Valiant Heart
by ShanaAlvarado29
Summary: Atemu Yamarai Santiago, the Reaper of Barcelona, tells the story of when he was a teenaged boy lost in a world of politics and pirates. He tells of the dangers he faced, the costs he paid to save his brother, and of the pirate captain who stole his heart.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I do own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Valiant Heart is rated M for language, violence, blood, intended rape, traumatic scenes, and YAOI (boy x boy). If you don't like, don't read. Everyone else, enjoy! Review!**

**- Prologue -**

My life began to take a turn for the worst on the day my mother past away. She had been one of the numerous victims of the horrid typhoid fever epidemic that swept through the Spaniard city of Barcelona where my family made our home. It had happened so fast that we hardly had time to even realize she was lethally sick until it was already too late.

I was the apprentice of Barcelona's most renowned blacksmith, and a few weeks after my mother's death, the King of Spain's newly appointed Captain of the Guard had come to my master to commission a brand new suit of armor and sword appropriate for his new position. I was nineteen, and I had been training under my master, an elderly man named Solomon Hernandez, and I had been training under my master since I was thirteen. Solomon believed that I was ready to take on this momentous task on my own, and he had left me responsible for making the Captain's armor and sword.

I had worked for two weeks just on the sword, a long, double-edged saber with a meticulously detailed hilt and handle made of the purest bronze and bejeweled with a single emerald on the hilt. I spent another entire month on the armor, molding and creating a masterpiece worthy of a king. Once I was finished, Master Solomon had declared the armor and the saber are both worthy of King Phillip. When the Captain returned to collect his possessions, he could scarcely believe that I, a mere boy, had created such works of art. When he was finally convinced, he marveled at my skill.

My talents became rapidly known in Barcelona as several other soldiers and even some noblemen, commissioned for me to make their armor and weapons. My master couldn't have been more proud of me at that time. I had believed that the hardships were over for my family, that I could bring in a steady income to help support my father and little brother, who were both still mourning for my mother's unexpected passing.

But I was wrong.

King Phillip and his three sons had come to meet the teenaged blacksmith prodigy, and from that day, my life went to hell in a hand basket.

It turned out that the moment the eldest prince had set eyes on me he had wanted me. No, I'm not being arrogant; I could see it clearly, the instant lust filled his eyes and it became clear as day on his face. The way he felt that he had the right to touch me whenever and however he wanted, and the disgustingly vulgar comments he carelessly whispered in passing. He was like some drunkard, unashamedly making a fool of himself.

Now, I was nothing. I was the oldest son of a butcher and a midwife, and despite my recent fame in my profession, I hadn't had a penny to my name. Louis was the crowned prince, the future King of Spain. I couldn't simply tell him to bugger off, or much more preferably, tell him to shove his over-inflated ego right up his ass and wish them both long, sleepless nights together…but I could not. I made it abundantly clear that I was not interested, but he couldn't take a hint.

For two months he pursued me, and for two months I had fended off his advances. I endured degradations at his actions, praying to whatever god would listen that he'd finally get a clue. Finally, he did catch on that I wasn't interested, but instead of leaving me be, he put me into a position where I had no room to refuse.

King Phillip summoned my father, my ten-year-old brother, and me to his castle to discuss my father's "negligence in paying his taxes" as he so charmingly put it. Apparently the annual taxation had increased by twenty percent from its original amount, and my father, while dealing with the grief of his wife's death and scrambling to keep a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and clothes on our backs, my father had fallen three months behind in debt. The King proposed a negotiation of sorts.

"Either you can pay me the full amount you owe in two weeks, and if you fail I will strip away everything you own, or I can wipe away your debt if you give your son to mine."

My father was desperate for an alternative, but the king was adamant in his ground. In the end, my father didn't really have a choice. A couple of palace guards dragged me away from my father and brother. They had ripped my little brother away from me, who had clung to my side, so forcibly that they broke his arm. They took me away from my family, the desperate screams of my brother calling out to me the last thing I heard before my entire world went into darkness.

On that day, Yamir Rodriguez had died. Gone was the teenaged blacksmith who had allowed himself to be taken. The young boy who had ended up torn away from the ones he loved and had died as a compliant, subordinate fool who hadn't had the nerve to stand against the prince when he had the chance.

In his place rose a man filled with such cold rage that it burned from the inside out. A man who would never stand idly by as some obnoxious, spoiled bastard degraded him by touching him every way that he felt like.

I am the angel of death, the Reaper of Barcelona. I no longer care what happens to me; if that fucking prince grew the balls to finally put actions to his ranting I will kill him in the slowest, most painful way that I could.

I am Atemu Yamarai Santiago, and I bow to no one.


	2. Chapter One  Debt Paid

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any characters from the anime. **

**Chapter One - Debt Paid**

Mahado stifled a yawn into the palm of his hand before he began slowly massaging his temples to relieve himself of the dull throbbing collecting behind his eyes.

_He's late._ Mahado thought grimly.

It was a little after midnight, but the tavern was still very much alive with activity. For the sixth time in two minutes, Mahado scanned the crowd of riotous drunkards and angry gamblers thoroughly only to feel the pang of disappointment that he didn't see him, and he _had_ promised he'd show.

_I should've known better than to trust a pirate._

Mahado would never step foot inside this seedy, backwater den of iniquity on his own, but this was where they'd agreed to meet. What better place is there to hide a criminal than in the presence of other criminals?

There was a sudden collective stillness that settled over the tavern, and Mahado glanced up, his deep, oceanic eyes meeting cerulean, and he breathed an inward sigh of relief. The towering brunet gestured imperiously for him to follow as he made his way toward a closed door in the back of the tavern, and although it stung his pride, Mahado rose to obey.

The room he was led to was small; the only things occupying it were two chairs, a short, rectangular table, and the two men. The pirate sat down in one of the chairs, keeping his back toward the wall and everything else in his sights. He tilted his chair back and propped his booted feet up on the table, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and threading his long, tapered fingers together.

"You know that I don't like to be disturbed while I'm out at sea, Mahado." The brunet drawled in a deep, baritone voice, his words lilting ever-so-slightly with the slightest hint of a Spanish accent, "So I'd suggest you make this quick."

The pirate was a dangerous, powerful man. He was notorious for his merciless brutality. He was known to be able to slit a person's throat while standing directly before them, so swiftly that they hadn't even seen him move before it was already too late. Whether it was raiding English cities or capsizing enemy ships, Seto Leandro never did anything halfway.

And that was the kind of ruthless determination that Mahado needed.

Even though he was nervous about being alone with this man, Mahado straightened to his full height, squared his shoulders, and took a breath for courage before he said, "I'm calling in my favor."

Seto quirked an eyebrow at this before he nodded, gesturing for me to continue.

"My cousin was taken prisoner two weeks ago by Prince Louis to become his sex puppet. I need you to get him away from the prince, and if possible completely away from the country. Yamir will never be safe if he stays in Spain. He's a good kid and he doesn't deserve what fate has dealt to him." Mahado explained, keeping the desperation from creeping into his voice.

Seto considered this a moment, and reiterated, "So, you're telling me that you want me to break into the palace of the King of Spain to rescue your cousin? You then want me to take said cousin out of the country if possible? Did I get this correct?"

"Yes" I replied shortly, clenching my fists at my sides, "When the royal guards were moments away from arresting you, I created enough of a diversion for you to escape. I saved your life, Seto, and now you owe me. This is my price."

"You're asking me to literally drop myself into the King Phillip's lap. I might as well hang a sign around my neck that spells, "Noose goes here"." Seto replied harshly, and then huffed out an irritated breath, "You are asking a lot from me Mahado, but a debt is still a debt. I'll go get your cousin."

"Thank you, Seto."

"I suppose I should leave now."

"Of course."

"Then, as of now, my debt is paid in full." And then the pirate was gone

* * *

><p><em>Did the indignities ever cease?<em>

Atemu Santiago paced the short distance provided within his small bedchamber, the events of the past few weeks raging in his mind. He was still livid that he was forcefully dragged away from his family, but now Atemu was furious at the fact that he had to listen to the prince's insufferable, lecherous ravings on all the ways he was going to take him.

_I'd like to see you try. Give me a reason to rip your fucking throat out, you bastard._

Atemu slowed to a halt, standing in the middle of the room as his ears twitched slightly at the light scraping coming from the other side of the door.

Baring his teeth in a silent snarl, Atemu tore off the flimsy, silk shirt that he had been made to wear that day and tossed it to the ground; he couldn't have the material constricting his motions. Atemu crouched beside the bed and dug one hand beneath the mattress and pulled out a short, but lethally honed, dirk. He gripped the knife with a practiced familiarity, the blade lying parallel to his forearm, and waited for the right moment to strike.

* * *

><p>When Mahado asked Seto to do this, there were a few scenarios that he imagined encountering. The first was finding some young boy, about fifteen years old, curled up in a broken, hysterical mess on a bed. He'd thought of some older teenager who twitched at every new movement and every little noise that he heard. He even thought that Mahado's cousin was some sort of pretty boy with painted toes and fluttering eyelashes.<p>

But _this_ never crossed his mind.

Seto had gotten inside the palace with unexpected simplicity. He had snuck up behind a perimeter guard, knocking him unconscious, and stole his uniform. While in the disguise of a guard, Seto did his rounds of the area, memorizing every possible exit from the castle, and snuck through a small window that led into a powder room. Luckily it was empty, but then again at three o'clock in the morning Seto hardly expected some noble lady powdering her nose.

He crept through the corridors of the palace, following the sound of the night guard's voices as the chatted about inconsequential things. They had unknowingly led the pirate straight to his target, and he easily overtook the haggard men to gain access to the boy's chamber.

The door had been barred from the outside, but Seto easily picked the lock and cracked the door open just far enough to slip inside.

He had just closed the door behind him when something fast and solid slammed into him, sending him careening to the floor. Suddenly someone straddled his waist, one arm effectively pinning the pirate's arms against his body while the other held a knife to his throat.

Seto opened his eyes to find a pair of gloriously furious crimson eyes burning into his own azure eyes with a ferocity that made Seto pause in awe.

Mahado's cousin was a bloody powder keg, to say the least, and he was a stunning creature. Shorter than Seto's own six feet four inches, but still at least six feet tall, the boy was lean and lithe, like some ferocious jungle cat. He had medium olive skin that showed dark gray in the moonlight, broad shoulders, trim torso, narrow waist, and generously toned arms. He was named from the waist up, revealing well-defined pectorals and washboard abdomen.

"Who are you?" The boy growled in a deep baritone voice, even deeper than Seto's, a thick Spanish accent punctuating the severity of his rage. "Why are you here?"

Seto shook himself out of his stupor but didn't respond fast enough for the boy's liking.

"Tell me who you are, or my hand might slip." He pressed the blade harder against Seto's throat, and he could feel a trickle of blood running from the wound.

"Your cousin sent me." Seto answered gruffly.

The boy's reaction was instantaneous. One moment he looked ready to take Seto's head off, and the next his rage-filled expression dropped into that of exhaustion and relief, "Mahado did?"

He got off of Seto and took a couple of steps away from him, but he kept the dirk raised threateningly. The boy wasn't a fool to trust the word of a stranger fully. _Good._

"Yes." Seto replied as he pushed himself to his feet, groaning at the newly forming bump on the back of his head.

"Finally." The boy breathed, and then, in the blink of an eye, he sliced his palm open, deep enough that Seto swore that he could see the bones of the boy's hands, and blood pooled rapidly.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Seto hissed, and the boy ignored the question as he moved toward the bed and allowed the blood to drip onto the mattress.

Seto watched in a mixture of confusion and interest as the boy smeared his blood all over the sheets and onto a white, silk shirt that had been discarded onto the floor. He shrugged it on and then clenched his wounded hand into a fist to stem the bleeding.

The boy peeked out into the hall and noticed that the guards were coming to, and he smirked knowingly.

"I assume that you know the closest way out of here?" He questioned as he crossed the room toward Seto and slipped the bloodied knife into his hand.

"Yes." Seto replied.

And then, the boy whirled, snatching up a vase from on top of a dresser and hurled it through the window. The resounding shatter was loud enough to carry out into the corridor from the slightly ajar door. Then he fell into Seto's arms, pressing his hand against his stomach. The blood began to run freely again, and by the way he was holding onto the imaginary wound in his gut, if Seto hadn't seen the boy cut open his hand he would've thought that somebody had ripped open his abdomen.

The door burst open, and Seto realized the position the boy had put him in; bloody knife, bleeding teenaged boy, blood everywhere on the bed, and a broken window. Seto took the hint. Picking the boy up, he rushed for the window. Seto could hear the guards shouting for him to halt, but he ignored them as he leapt out the window with the boy still clutched in his arms.

They were about two stories high, and even though he landed correctly, a jolt of pain still shuddered through Seto's ankles and calves upon landing. Seto continued to run across the well-manicured lawn, toward the closest exit out of the upper bailey. The kid had given him a head start by making Seto jump out the window, and before the guards could even gather their forces, he was long gone with their precious prince's supposedly dying boy toy.

Outside the lower bailey of the castle were the royal guards' horse corrals. Seto veered toward them, and they "borrowed" two of the guards' horses as they rode out of the city and headed straight for the harbor.

Seto's magnificent vessel, the Tide Whisperer, a massive, three-mast galleon, made entirely from maple wood, home of the White Dragon pirates, was anchored just outside the harbor waiting for her captain to return. They left the horses and took a life boot out to the ship.

Seto wondered why the kid wasn't asking him any questions, or why he followed him without him needing to tell the kid to.

Seto smirked as he glanced at the boy climbing the ladder up onto the ship.

This might not be as bad as Seto originally thought, having the kid around.


	3. Chapter Two  Subordination

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Warning: there are graphic medical procedures in this chapter. Enjoy, everyone! Review!**

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews so far, they really mean a lot to me. I like to know I'm not writing this for no reason. ^_^ **

**D-17 pharaohfox: I had chills when I wrote that part. Thanks for the review.**

**Nissy's angel: I'm so glad you're liking this story. Here's the next installment. **

**AyaSeth: I was surprised by it myself. The story plays out in my mind like a movie, and I said the exact same thing Seto did when he cut himself. Then I realized what was happening and said, "Ahh…nice, quick thinking there, Yami."**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two – Subordination<strong>

Atemu ambled up the rope ladder onto the deck of the grand galleon. He clenched his wounded hand into a fist and held it against his stomach in a vain attempt to alleviate the ache. Each time he had gripped the coarse rope, the fibers agitated the cut.

The deck was mostly deserted save for the two young men on the starboard side, sitting on a pair of barrels playing a game of dice. One was tall with shoulder length, sandy-blond hair, deep olive skin; the other was relatively shorter than average with long, thick raven black hair and a youthful face.

The stranger came up beside Atemu a moment later, and Atemu pivoted and narrowed his eyes on the tall brunet.

"I think it's about time you told me who you are." He stated calmly, matter-of-factly.

The stranger parroted Atemu's expression, "Why didn't you ask before now?"

"Because we were a little busy earlier. There wasn't any time for chatting."

"Seto," The stranger replied ominously, "_Captain_ Seto Leandro."

* * *

><p>He waited for a reaction. That moment where the kid's confident demeanor shattered to make way to panic. He waited; but it never came.<p>

_Perhaps he's more simple-minded than I thought?_

"Atemu." The boy said in the same tone of voice Seto had used, "Atemu Santiago."

Seto frowned, "Your cousin told me your name was Yamir or something similar."

"It was, but Yamir is dead."

"How so?"

"I assume that you're going to take me away from Spain? It's best that everyone believed that I was dead so that they'll leave my family alone. So," The seriousness in his voice caught Seto off guard, "You should refer to me as Atemu, and I shall not respond to anything else."

"Don't give me orders, boy." Seto said heatedly.

Atemu just waved away the underlying threat in those words, "What happens now?"

Seto turned in the direction of the two men who hadn't noticed their presence yet.

"Malik, go and wake the crew and prepare them for departure." Seto and Atemu watched as the sandy-haired man rushed to obey, "Mokuba, see to Atemu's wound."

The raven-haired boy crossed the deck toward them with a confident swagger befitting his station. Mokuba may have been a few years younger than Atemu and the shortest member of the White Dragon pirates, but what he lacks in age and stature, he makes up for in strength and cunning. He was the White Dragon's first mate and Seto's kid brother.

"No problem." Mokuba said as he reached them, gesturing for Atemu to show him the wound.

Atemu complied with an air of nonchalance, even though the wound was enough to make the teenaged pirate blanch. Mokuba recollected himself and then, setting a hand between Atemu's shoulders, he shoved the older boy toward the door heading toward the crew's living quarters beneath the stern of the ship.

Just before they disappeared inside, Atemu turned back toward Seto, "Hey, could you find me some clothes? I'd rather not continue looking like a dandy if I'm going to become a pirate."

Seto grunted disapprovingly.

He was the pirate Captain Seto Leandro, not some kid's errand boy. And where had he gotten the idea that he would become part of the crew?

_Never mind. I just might end up strangling him before the week is through._

* * *

><p>Mokuba pushed Atemu into a chair in one of the private quarters reserved for the captain and the first mate. He then quickly retrieved the medical bag where he stored all of his supplies from inside his mahogany steamer trunk.<p>

He pulled out several items from the bag; bandages, alcohol, a small bag of horsehair and needles, a scalpel, a couple jars of medicinal herbs, a mortar and pistil, and a small wooden bowl.

He started with the scalpel. Mokuba grabbed Atemu's hand in a vice-like grip before he used the flat of the blade to prod the edges of the wound, judging how deep it was beneath the still pooling blood. He then used the thicker edge to scrape the inside of the wound to be sure all the dirt and fibers were out. Mokuba was impressed that Atemu did little more than hiss a time or two.

Once that was finished, Mokuba took the alcohol and poured a generous portion over the cut. Another hiss occurred, followed closely by Atemu instinctively trying to pull away from the sting of the liquid, but Mokuba held fast. After the alcohol, Mokuba bunched up a length of bandages and pushed it into Atemu's palm, "Grip this as hard as you can."

Atemu obeyed, and Mokuba went on to grind some medicinal leaves, a couple of seeds, and some sort of yellowish liquid to create a pale green paste.

"Open."

Atemu unclenched his fist and Mokuba removed the soiled bandages to smooth the mixture over and inside the wound.

_Gods it stung like a motherfucker! _Atemu inwardly shouted, the only outward indication of the searing, burning sensation was his muscles flexing tightly as Atemu forced his hand to keep still.

"This mixture stems the bleeding, numbs the wound, and it is added resistance to infection." Mokuba explained, probably in an attempt to distract Atemu…and it worked.

After Mokuba was finished torturing him, he sewed the wound closed with the horsehair and wrapped a bandage tightly around his hand.

"So, where did Seto find you?" Mokuba asked as he replaced the supplies into the bag.

Atemu shrugged, "It would seem my cousin had hired him to take me out of Spain." Not quite the answer Mokuba was waiting for.

"How did you get this wound?"

"I had to create a diversion."

"Hmm." Mokuba growled irritably.

Atemu didn't know this kid, and he was never forthcoming in honesty with a perfect stranger, "Thank you for the mend."

"I didn't do it for you. Seto asked me to" Mokuba snapped, and Atemu shrugged in indifference, "But you're welcome anyway."

The cabin door swung open to reveal Seto in the doorway. He scowled darkly at Atemu as he tossed a new set of clothes into the boy's lap.

"Mokuba, we're about to castoff, I need you up on deck."

The teenager quickly obeyed, leaving Atemu with the pirate captain. Seto closed the door; trapping them inside the small cabin, "Let's get one thing straight here, Santiago." He spat, "I am _not_ your servant to scramble about at your beck and call. You are on _my_ ship, and here, I am the law. You will not talk down to me; you will not disrespect me. My obligations to keep you safe ended the moment you set foot on deck. I'm not known for my leniency, my compassion, or subordination, and if you ever overstep your grounds again, I'll send you straight to Davy Jones' Locker."

And with that, Seto left, firmly shutting the door behind him.

Atemu blinked at the show of temper, taken aback by it.

He couldn't help it; Atemu's shoulders trembled violently moments before he burst out into laughter, tears of mirth prickling at the corners of his eyes, and he helplessly dropped out of his chair and onto the floor.

* * *

><p>Seto paused mid step at the sudden burst of laughter coming from Mokuba's cabin.<p>

_He's laughing at me! _Seto thought, furious.

He had half a mind to turn back and show him that Seto Leandro was not an object of amusement, especially after he'd promised death if the kid ever showed him anything less than respect. But he couldn't make himself move. For some foreign reason, he felt mildly glad that he could make the boy laugh like that. He had a feeling that Atemu didn't do that sort of thing often.

Shaking his head to snap out of his stupor, he growled under his breath and continued on toward the deck.

**FYI: If you're confused, in this story Seto is 26 years old and Atemu is 19; Mokuba is 17. This is why Seto keeps calling Atemu "kid" and "boy" whenever he gets angry with him. **


	4. Chapter Three  Pirates

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Enjoy! Review!**

**A/N: I usually can't quit writing once I get on a roll, so some days I might update two or three times, and others only once. **

**AnzuFan: I'm glad that you're liking the story. I love to know that I'm not just writing this for my own sake. Thanks for reviewing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Three – Pirates<strong>

When one spends years out on the sea, one tends to learn how to appreciate true beauty. It was odd that a pirate could think such a thing, but this was the man's excuse for why on God's green Earth he found _him_ desirable.

Seto stood on the deck of his precious ship, the Tide Whisperer, overseeing the crew rapidly preparing to set sail, every now and then barking an order to the ones who started slacking off. He soon heard someone coming up behind him. He turned his head to see Atemu approaching, and then quickly turned away when momentary appreciation triggered a physical response.

_Gods it should be a sin to look that good…what the fuck?_

"What do I get to do?" His voice flowed over me, and I turned halfway to face the teenaged renegade.

The clothes that Seto had taken from Ryuji's trunk fit Atemu as if he had been born to wear them. The ensemble consisted of a plain white, long-sleeved, cotton tunic, a pair of dark brown leather pants, black, knee-high boots, a wide, black belt, and a crimson, midriff vest he had left unbuttoned.

The tunic accentuated the young man's broad shoulders and his tapered torso to perfection. The vest punctuated those exotic scarlet eyes of his, and the pants were a bit too tight around the boy's thighs. He was a virile, lethal creature, and Seto found that Atemu Santiago did suit the boy better than Yamir.

Atemu was a tall - not as tall as Seto, but still at least six feet in height - lean, lithe young man whose body was molded with muscle from years of hard labor, his medium olive skin glistened from beneath the light of the various lamps that lit the deck, smooth skin peeking out from under his collar. He had wild, naturally spiked hair; made from three different colors of long, jagged, golden-blond bangs and a few thin golden streaks ran through ebony silk, and crimson tinged the ends of his spikes.

"What do you mean?" Seto questioned stupidly, still sounding dazed by the full impact of the younger man's appeal. _Now I know how that damned prince felt._

"You don't expect me to sit around here collecting dust, do you? This is a pirate's ship, not a pleasure cruise, and I expect to earn my keep." Atemu replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

_Shouldn't that be something I would say?_

"Your hand-"

"Will heal in due time, but I'm not going to let it handicap me." Atemu cut him off.

He should be angry at Atemu's bantering, or at the very least annoyed that he was pulling out all the stops until Seto had nothing to fall back on. But at the same time, he was strangely relieved that Atemu wouldn't stand to be lazy.

"Go help unfurl the sails, then."

Seto watched as Atemu rushed to climb the foremast, bracing himself as he grabbed a rope and began loosening the slack on the main sail.

A motion in front of him on the deck tore Seto's attention away from the perplexing teenager and he glared at a golden-blond man who lay awkwardly over a pile of ruined canvas and pieces of a broken wooden crate.

"Damn it, Jounouchi, get your act together!" Seto snapped.

"Aye, Captain." The blond mumbled pathetically before he moved to clean up his mess.

Seto took his place at the helm, steering the Tide Whisperer out away from the harbor and into open-ocean. Before long, they were traveling full speed ahead, Spain becoming a phantom as it slowly vanished into the blackness of the night.

The low roar of the water slapping against the hull of the ship, the cool, slight breeze that slithered over his skin and threading through his hair, these were some of the many things that Seto loved about being out on the sea.

The crew had all gone back below deck, either to go back to bed or to wait in the galley until Ryou finished cooking their breakfast. As Seto navigated across the ocean, he spotted the silhouetted figure of Atemu as he swabbed the deck. The man didn't want to stop working after they finished preparing to set out, and Seto had needed a new cabin boy. So, he had gone into the galley and emerged with Atemu's two new best friends, the mop and the bucket.

Atemu had been less than thrilled at the assignment, and even now continued to express his distaste with Seto's twisted sense retribution for the boy's bout of laughter at Seto's expense earlier. He could hear snatches of Atemu's deep voice float toward him as he grumbled and swore under his breath.

When Atemu accused Seto of being a "waterlogged goat-herder", Seto was torn between rushing down the stairs to rip the boy's head from his shoulders and being impressed by his creativity.

He figured, in the end, that if giving the boy a task that would keep the kid out of his hair for a few hours, Seto could take a little murmured bashing. The teen has been taking his time, being extremely thorough to make sure he had mopped every inch of the deck. By the time he was finished, dawn began to break, the sky began to lighten in an array of reds, golds, and coral.

"Hey." Seto called, and Atemu whirled to give the captain a heated look. He probably thought that Seto was about to give him another stupid, simple task, like polishing his boots even while Seto was wearing them. "Go get some sleep."

Atemu's scarlet eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I don't want you agitating that cut. The crew quarters are a level below the captain and first mate cabins."

Atemu studied Seto from his lower position on the deck.

"Get going before I tell you to pluck the barnacles from the hull."

Atemu cursed Seto viciously; well, Seto didn't actually hear it, but judging by his body language and the snippet of his tone of voice, he could more than assume that it had been a curse. Atemu dumped the dirty water over the side of the ship and put the bucket and mop up against the wall of the galley before he disappeared below deck.

* * *

><p>After the adrenaline from last night's escape had worn off, Atemu had felt thoroughly exhausted. When Seto had told him to go sleep, he had wondered if his sleep-deprived mind was playing some cruel trick on him.<p>

"Go before I have you pluck the barnacles from the hull."

_Now_ Atemu knew he wasn't imagining things, his pride took a brutal blow and he swore vehemently before ridding himself of the accursed mop and bucket and ducking inside before Seto could change his mind.

The crew quarters weren't hard to find once he retraced his steps from earlier and continued on from there. The crew quarters were actually three large rooms housing twenty-five individual hammocks, each with a thin blanket for warmth. Atemu had chosen to settle down in the third room, where only seven other men were snoozing away in their bunks.

Atemu chose a hammock far from the other pirates; he dropped into the bunk, and just barely pulled the blanket over his middle before he drifted off into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>"…Who is he?"<p>

"…Yeah, he was that guy…"

"I don't know. Should we…"

Atemu caught snatches of jumbled conversation before he slowly opened his eyes to find five strange faces hovering over him.

He started, and tried to jump away from them, but he had temporarily forgotten he had been sleeping in a hammock. His legs got tangled up in the cloth of the hammock and…

Atemu was spun twice in a full circle before he was dropped hard, facedown, onto the cold wooden floor.

"Gods." He hissed as a shooting pain coursed up his left arm before he rolled to pin the strangers with his most venomous glare, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Has being out on the ocean so long made the lot of you forget that it's rude to watch a man while he's sleeping?" He demanded as he shoved himself onto his feet, threading his fingers through his golden bangs to hide the slight coloring in his cheeks from his embarrassing, uncharacteristic clumsiness.

"You're new here." A sandy-blond haired man that Atemu remembered was known as Malik, commented unnecessarily. "We were trying to figure out where you'd come from."

"And you had to be that close to figure it out?" Atemu snapped, and then he turned his attention to his left hand, inspecting the wound to be sure it hadn't started bleeding again.

"Curious." The man named Jounouchi mumbled.

"Haven't you heard the expression, "curiosity killed the cat"?"

"Well, at least you're a cat this time and not a dog." A black-haired, green-eyed man prodded, causing the blond to snap indignantly.

"Ignore them." Came the voice of a smooth, English tenor. A young man, maybe a year older than Atemu, with long white hair and doe-brown eyes said smiled at Atemu, "I'm Ryou Bakura."

_An Englishman on a Spanish ship, with a Spanish captain, and half of the crew is also Spanish…I guess weirder things have happened._

"Atemu Santiago." He replied dutifully. "Now, I'm going back to bed, so do me a favor and bugger off."

Instead of feeling insulted, like normal people would've been, Ryou and his four companions all shared wide grins before they filed out of the room. Atemu climbed back into his hammock and fell asleep quickly.

* * *

><p>It was mid-afternoon when Atemu finally stirred from his rest by the insistent growling of his stomach. He got out of his bunk and ventured out into the corridors heading for the deck to look for the captain. It wasn't a difficult feat, since he had only been about to open the door to go out onto the deck when Seto opened the door first on his way below.<p>

"It's about time you got around." He grumbled, and then he gestured toward the galley on the other end of the deck, "Ryou just made supper."

"Thanks." Atemu replied before brushing past the pirate.

"Oh and after you're finished eating, the mutt made a mess below deck in the cargo hold. I need you to clean it up." Seto said, much to Atemu's irritation.

"As you say, Captain." He mocked under his breath as he continued toward the galley. Even the obnoxious Seto couldn't spoil Atemu's appetite.

* * *

><p>It was well past sunset when Atemu re-emerged back onto the deck after spending the latter part of the afternoon cleaning Jounouchi's mess. The blond had bumped into four crates of food - bread, pickled onions, and jerky - and they had shattered on the ground. Apparently Seto hadn't allowed Jounouchi to clean it up, and left it for Atemu.<p>

Atemu slid down the outside wall to the crew living quarters beside the barrels that served as chairs, bending his legs up to prop his elbows on his knees. It was a clear night, and the legions of stars were completely visible. It was really a breathtaking sight, listening to the lapping of the waves and smelling the musky, salty breeze…even if he had to put up with Seto's backhanded threats and his apparent need to work Atemu to the bone, Atemu was happy he was here.

He could've gone on in his life completely ignorant to how this might have been like. He could've married, become a master blacksmith, start a family, and live his life to the fullest…but how is it living life to the fullest if you don't know anything better? It couldn't be to the fullest if one is trapped in a never-ending cycle of work and family, with no way of knowing that there was an entire world out there, just beyond the range of one's sight. And here he was, Atemu, the lowly son of peasants, was living a life others could never even hope to imagine.

In his musings, Atemu dropped his eyes from watching the sky to look out into the distant blackness of the night. It was only then that he noticed a white silhouette skating across the black water, coming directly toward the Tide Whisperer, and fast.

Atemu launched to his feet and rushed below deck. He pounded on Seto's cabin door until the tall brunet finally opened to glare impatiently at Atemu's intrusion.

He was naked from the waist up, barefoot, and only his black leather pants covered his body. Atemu didn't have time to admire the captain's glorious body…_Did I just think that?_...and looked him in the eye, "Enemy ship heading straight for us, so get some clothes on and give me a sword."

* * *

><p>Seto didn't have time to deal with the indignation that came from Atemu's order.<p>

He had awakened to the boy trying his best to make sawdust out of his door, and he had been less than pleased. And then he saw the expression on his face, that of some ancient warrior…or some feral beast, and he demanded a weapon to fight.

Seto turned at the sound of Mokuba's door opening, "Wake the crew. We're under attack."

Mokuba hurried to obey and Seto vanished back into his cabin to shrug into a black tunic and slip on his boots. He grabbed three cutlasses and two multi-chambered pistols, and opened the door to see that Atemu hadn't moved an inch.

Seto pushed one of the cutlasses and a pistol into Atemu's chest and watched as the boy strapped the weapons around his waist. Seto started toward the deck, with Atemu right on his heels.

Outside, the enemy ship had gotten much closer, and from here they could see the enemy's flag fluttering in the wind.

"I can't make out the colors." Atemu confessed. "But it looks like an English caravel."

Seto grunted in reply before running to the helm and grabbed the wheel from Tristan, who appeared to be half asleep.

He turned the wheel sharply, maneuvering the Tide Whisperer until it was in attack formation.

By now, the crew started to pour out onto the deck, and Seto turned his attention to them, "Malik, gather together a team and head to the cannons." Malik chose sixteen other men and went back below deck. "Everyone else, man your stations."

Some of the men climbed up onto the masts, others spread out along the width of the deck, covering it from stem to stern.

Atemu stood near Seto, his right hand hovering over the hilt of his cutlass as they watched the enemy ship draw ever closer.


	5. Chapter Four Siege

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any characters from the anime. I own the plot and Tide Whisperer. Enjoy! Review!**

**D-17 pharaohfox/AyaSeth – Trust me, I'm just as enthusiastic about what happens next. And I always wondered what a tall Atemu would be like…but in keeping with realistic views of Spaniards being a bit larger in build than Japanese. ^_^ Or so I say…**

**A/N: There is a fight scene in this chapter, and I'm a little self-conscious of what it might look like to you all, so please let me know…since there will be at least three more later in the story. Now, on with the story!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four – Siege <strong>

Time seemed to stretch on into eternity as the English caravel cut across the water toward the Tide Whisperer. As they drew closer, new details became visible. The caravel was flying the Jolly Roger for one thing.

Atemu used that time to gauge his options.

The Tide Whisperer was a good mile and a half long from stem to stern, and another half-mile wide from port to starboard. He had the masts and ropes above the deck that he could use, and twelve levels below deck. There was one huge disadvantage to him, and that was he hadn't had time to memorize the layout of the ship in its entirety, and so Atemu was limited to the deck.

"Steady…" He heard Seto murmur, "Steady…"

Atemu rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms high overhead, and grimaced at the restriction in movement his tunic caused. He quickly discarded both his vest and tunic. Atemu had always been bare from the waist up when he first began learning how to fight, and anything different was something he couldn't afford in a life and death situation.

"Just a little more…" Seto whispered.

Atemu braced for attack.

"Now!" Seto roared, and the Tide Whisperer shook as the first volley of cannon fire was loosed.

Some of the cannon balls fell harmlessly into the sea, others punched holes into the hull of the caravel, and two had collectively collapsed one of the minor masts. The barrage did slow the enemy ship down, but not by much. And then, it became clear that they planned on ramming into the Tide Whisperer head-on.

"Shit." Seto hissed, having just come to the same conclusion. "Ready the tri-barrel gun!"

Four brawny White Dragons rushed toward a five-axle crank built into the stem of the ship. Each man grabbed hold of a spoke and pushed, and a trapdoor in the floor of the stem began to fold upward to reveal a massive three-turret cannon.

While that was happening, a second flurry of cannon fire was launched, and this time, the caravel took a lot more damage, and slowed a bit more, but even so if it struck the Tide Whisperer now, the caravel would split the galleon in two.

Seto grabbed the wheel and jerked toward the starboard, and excruciatingly slowly, the Tide Whisperer moved into a safer position. Although they would still hit, it wouldn't be as dangerous.

The tri-barrel cannon let off six shots in quick succession, and each one put a fresh hole into the hull of the caravel.

The Tide Whisperer scraped against the pirate caravel like it had struck an iceberg, The masts got tangled together, the hulls jointly connected, and a moment later, enemy pirates flooded over onto the deck of the Tide Whisperer.

Seto loosed a battle cry the second the first pirate set foot on his precious ship, and the White Dragons met the English threat with Seto and Mokuba leading the charge.

Atemu lunged forward, unsheathing his cutlass in one fluid flick of his wrist, just in time to stop a downward strike that was aiming for his head. He kicked the pirate back and sliced a deep gouge in the older man's gut, blood and intestine spilled out at Atemu's feet. He whirled in a circle, his leg coming up in a roundhouse that sent three of the pirates staggering. He easily dispatched of them and moved on to the next fool that the boy reached.

The rage that had been building inside of him on the day Atemu Santiago was born boiled up from deep inside of him, until it became overwhelming.

Every indignation, every degradation, the realization that he would never again see his father, brother, master, or cousin fueled his anger until his consciousness dimmed to make way for the demon dwelling in his heart.

* * *

><p>Seto jerked his cutlass out of the chest of his latest kill and pivoted to decapitate another when his attention briefly flashed to the flurry inhumane motion coming from the stern. Steel clashed against steel, blood spurted from castrated limbs and necks, and small cries of agony cut off by the hand of death had captured his interest.<p>

Among the slaughter, the cause of the slaughter was Atemu.

Seto drew his pistol and fired twice, his targets too slow to pull the trigger on their own guns, and he engaged in a furious duel with four pirates at once. He holstered the pistol in exchange for his second cutlass. He spun, blocked, advanced, and retreated, his cutlasses a blur of motion as he rained vengeance upon the pirates who dared to damage his ship.

He caught the first man across his chest in a scissor-like move that cut a crimson 'X' into his torso, and then he felt a pain in his side where a second pirate had cut into his hip. Seto leapt back before the blade could bury too deep but it would slow him down. Outraged, he dropped one cutlass and took out his pistol, firing a bullet through the second pirate's jaw. Blood, bone, and brain tissue erupted from out the back of his skull, splattering across those unlucky enough to be standing behind the now very dead pirate.

He spun and fired again at the third, and then he planted his sword into the fourth pirate's stomach. Still imbedded, he weighted down on his sword, and the blade severing the man's pelvis and privates. The pirate gave a blood-curdling scream before he bled out.

Seto turned in time to see Mokuba surrounded and tiring. He kept retreating while fearlessly fighting off the English pirates, but his movements seemed a bit sluggish. Seto rushed to help, cutting down anyone who got in his way.

Seto watched in horror as Mokuba's calves connected with the raised wall on the portside of the deck, and he fell overboard.

"Mokuba!" He shouted and without a thought, Seto ran and dove over the side of the ship after his brother.

Mokuba hadn't resurfaced yet, and the added momentum in Seto's jump made it easier to reach him. Seto swam to the surface with his brother firmly locked in his arms, but before he could call for someone to throw the ladder down, Seto felt something brush up against his leg.

His open wound in his side had attracted the attention of some _very_ unwanted visitors. Seto watched a dark gray shape cut across the surface of the water. Seto had dropped his cutlasses when he had hit the water, but he still had his pistol. He fired at the shape, and killed the first shark. It's blood, however, called out like a welcome beacon, and more sharks arrived. He tried to shoot again, but he had run out of bullets.

"Seto…" Mokuba murmured frightfully as he saw the danger.

"It'll be okay, Mokuba."

He only hoped that he wouldn't be made into a liar.


	6. Chapter Five Foreign Emotion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I do own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Enjoy! Review! **

**A/N: I would wait a while to draw out the suspense from the last chapter…but I'm not that mean. ****Read and find out.**

**Chapter Five – Foreign Emotion**

Seto tried to stay calm for Mokuba's sake, but it was taking a huge amount of discipline not to panic. He could see at least three sharks circling them, like vultures over a carcass, and he didn't have a clue when they would decide to attack, but the suspense alone was getting the better of him. Mokuba was shivering in his arms, letting out mewling cries every time he saw the dorsal fins. Seto tried to sooth him, but realistically that was impossible.

He shouted for help, praying to every god he could think to pray to that they would get out of this alive. That somebody would hear him and…

_And what? Jump into shark infested waters for you? That'd be insane!_

He could always try, at least.

Nearby, something broke the water, and fire lit up on the surface. Up above, foreboding light appeared, signaling that there was fire on the deck as well.

Someone jumped over the edge, his body straightened into the perfect dive as he broke through the surface not far from Seto and Mokuba. He didn't resurface. One of the sharks bumped into Seto's ankle, more aggressively than before. It wouldn't be much longer before the Leandro brothers became shark bait.

Blood began to cloud the water. It started only in small trickles, creating shekel-sized pools. Those pools morphed into large masses of warmed blood that completely obscured what was underwater. Something had died down there, but Seto didn't know which; the fool who'd jumped or the sharks.

A head came up for air, but immediately dove back down.

More blood floated to the ocean surface, polluting the water further. Something bumped into Seto, but it didn't feel like a shark anymore.

Again, the man resurfaced, this time taking a bit longer to take in deep gulps of oxygen. He turned toward Seto and Mokuba and swam toward the brothers.

"Atemu?" Seto cried in surprise.

"Hold on." He replied, and drew up beside the brothers.

He put something in Seto's hands before he gently pried Mokuba away from Seto. "Climb up, Mokuba." Atemu said, and gave the younger boy a piece of rope. With trembling hands, Mokuba obeyed until he was back up on the deck.

"You're next, Captain." Atemu said in a no nonsense tone of voice.

Seto was about to tell Atemu where he could put that order when someone started calling for help nearby.

"Go, Seto!"

This time, Seto did as "suggested", he refused to acknowledge that he obeyed an order from a boy, and climbed hand-over-hand until he was back up on deck.

The fighting was over, but now the White Dragons were hurrying to put out the fire.

Atemu appeared soon after, and leaned against the raised wall to catch his breath. He untied the rope from around his waist and tossed the end aside.

"What happened to that other man?" Seto asked.

"He was an enemy, so I killed him." Atemu replied with an air of nonchalance. It was a bit unnerving to hear the boy say something like that easily.

"Are you and Mokuba all right?" He asked.

"I am…" Seto turned to find Mokuba assisting in trying to put out the fire, "And he should be, but I don't know how the situation affected him mentally. I guess we'll have to wait and see." Seto turned to Atemu, who pushed a lock of intertwining black, blond, and crimson hair out of his eyes.

Atemu looked physically and mentally drained. His now-crimson eyes seemed a bit dull, his usually spiked hair was now weighted down from getting wet, falling like a mop around his head and in his eyes. His olive skin had a grayish tint to it, and it was taking him a while to get back to his normal breathing pattern. Even so, he still looked delectable.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked.

"Mm-hmm." He breathed, swiping his hair out of his eyes again, and only then did Seto notice that his hand was trembling.

"Come with me." Seto ordered and started toward the living quarters.

* * *

><p>He ordered Atemu to sit on the bed after the two entered the captain's cabin, the boy dropped into a chair instead. He told Atemu to let him see his hand, and Atemu raised his left hand to let Seto <em>see<em> it, but he wouldn't let him touch it. Seto tried to move the mass of Atemu's hair away from his face, and Atemu jerked his head away from the captain's touch.

Every single time Seto did something or told the boy to do anything, the boy did the exact opposite.

This should infuriate Seto, really it should, but for some reason it felt almost refreshing to have someone not fawn all over him like his crewmembers did, and it was invigorating to be constantly challenged for once in a very long time. Atemu was as stubborn as they come (A/N: Hi kettle, I'm pot. You're black.) and he fought Seto in every way, unless Captain Seto gave his cabin boy a job to do. In fact, anything that involved Atemu personally was a red-flag zone to the boy where Seto was concerned.

_What is it with you, kid, that you shut out everyone that might get close to you? _(A/N: Ah-hmm, pot.)

"Cabin boy, let me see. Your hand." Seto emphasized by holding out a hand expectantly.

Atemu actually growled at him, but he obeyed.

The salt water had really agitated the wound, tinged by a reddish=purple color. It wasn't infected, but it could if left alone.

Seto retrieved his own bag of medical supplies from his steamer trunk. He used a pair of tweezers to cut the horsehair, and then he proceeded to go through the same torturous procedure that Mokuba had done the night before.

"How are you holding up?" Seto asked, surprising them both by the sincerity of his concern.

"Fine."

"Are you, really?"

Atemu narrowed his eyes at Seto, "What business is it of yours, Captain?"

"You made it my business the second you jumped overboard to save Mokuba and me." Seto replied with a glare of his own.

"What if I told you I hadn't meant to do that?"

"I would call you a bald-faced liar." He shot back, "But hypothetically speaking, it wouldn't make much of a difference because you did. Even before that, you had warned me about the oncoming enemy. You stood by me and fought for me. That makes everything you are my business."

"Ah, so you're throwing the past in my face? How chivalrous of you."

"I'm a pirate, we're not meant for chivalry." Seto quipped.

"Touché." Atemu conceded, "But as an individual, I am entitled to my own privacy."

"What's there to be kept private if you're supposedly "fine"?"

"Merely for future reference, I assure you." Atemu stood, intending to leave.

"I didn't say you could leave." Seto goaded, "Sit."

"I'd rather stand, thank you."

"Suit yourself. Now, why don't you tell me how you're really feeling, Santiago?"

"I'm feeling exponentially irritated, and I'm envisioning a delightful image of me kicking your head in." Atemu replied coolly.

"Very original." Seto said drily.

"Oh, it's just my most recent imagery. I have had many more "original" sequences where I beat you senseless."

"Ah, is this mutiny I hear, cabin boy?"

"No, it's called temper." Atemu said.

Seto was jointly torn between laughing and wanting to throttle the impudent whelp. Then he took a good look at Atemu and felt extremely smug.

Atemu no longer looked pathetic, as he had a moment ago. Oh no, Atemu looked a lot like sin right now.

Here he stood, legs braced apart, arms crossed, his head held high, scarlet eyes steady as he met Seto glacial gaze. There was something there…something that clouded Atemu's eyes…_excitement_.

His hair was dry, but it stayed straight down around his shoulders. His jagged golden-blond bangs framed his face to perfection, accentuating the intensity of his expression, and he was still bare-chested. His skin had returned to its original luster, full lips parted as he breathed, his chest rising and falling, almost seductively, in succession.

Seto felt himself physically responding to the sight, and it didn't help that he remembered that they were alone in his cabin.

Without thought, Seto's lips crashed down on Atemu's.

The boy gasped at the action, and Seto pressed the advantage. He slid his tongue into Atemu's mouth, tasting the sweet ambrosia within.

Suddenly, Seto pulled back, his hand shooting up to cover his bottom lip as blood trickled down his jaw.

"Let's get one thing straight here, _Captain_." Atemu said heatedly, rubbing the back of his hand over his mouth, "You may be the captain of this ship, and you might have me as your cabin boy, but I'll be _damned_ if you think that gives you _any_ right to take whatever you damn well want from me. _Don't let it happen again _or you'll be missing both your tongue and a head short." His eyes darted meaningfully to Seto's groin, half-erect beneath the constricting leather of the captain's pants.

"I'll go get Mokuba to see to your wound, Captain." And Atemu left.

Seto was stunned. Had he been wrong?

No, he definitely sensed the boy's excitement…there was something there…along with that excitement…Seto couldn't put his finger on it.

_Don't let it happen again or you'll be missing both your tongue and a head short. _

Seto grinned mischievously, "Ah Santiago…you should know I love a good challenge."


	7. Chapter Six Morocco

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**AyaSeth: Well, it makes for a more suspenseful setting. You don't know what I'll do to the characters next. Lol**

**S2Teennovelist: What I said in the IM ^_^**

**AnzuFan: I'm glad you're liking the story. I know, Atemu is a feisty little (not-so-little in this story) vixen, isn't he? **

**Nissy's Angel: There's more where that came from. **

**Enjoy! Review! On with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six – Pirate Haven (Re-edited)<strong>

The Tide Whisperer was in sorry shape. It was sailable, and the damage done wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been, but if left alone the Tide Whisperer would sink. And that was something Seto refused to let happen.

It was fortunate that the White Dragons weren't too far away from pirate haven seaport of Sale, in Morocco on the African coast.

An hour before dawn, the wounded galleon slunk through the black waters into the Sale harbor. The White Dragons would spend the next few weeks here in the port until repairs on the Tide Whisperer were finished. Usually Seto would be loath to be parted from the sea for so long, but this time was different. This time there was a certain stubborn cabin boy here to keep him occupied.

_Speak of the devil._

Atemu stepped off from the gangplank onto the docks surrounding the harbor, his narrowed scarlet eyes taking in his surroundings with an air of repulsion.

Contrary to popular belief, the White Dragon pirates were a well-groomed lot, and stepping out into Sale was a bit of a shock where every other sailor you see has a layer of grime coating their bodies.

"Come on, Santiago. You wouldn't want to be catching any diseases while breathing the same air as these sailors." Seto goaded, and he grinned when Atemu glared venomously in reply.

_I'm going to kill him. I swear to God, I'll kill him if he says one more damned word._ Atemu vowed inwardly as he stalked after the rest of the crew toward the town.

Being angry took too much effort, and so Atemu let his temper fade before he passed out from fatigue.

Some of the crew had scattered, occupying the taverns and the brothels almost as soon as they arrived in Morocco. There were a few women, and even a couple of men, who tried enticing Atemu into bed, but he none-too-gently declined every offer. Seto had a couple of far away admirers, but he ignored them…and still Atemu felt the explicit urge to walk over to the red-headed tramp that was literally licking her lips as she stared at Seto's ass.

_Stop it!_ God, he must be more tired than he first assumed if he was at all capable of mirroring an emotion such as _jealousy_ when it came to the pirate captain.

Atemu shook his head sharply to dispel the line of thought after a rather erotic sequence of a naked Seto enjoying the company of that red-haired bimbo and her two raven-haired companions.

_GODDAMN IT!_

_All right, Atemu, it's all right. You're mind is still just reeling from the events of the past few weeks and now you're simply on the verge of insanity. Yeah, that's right. You're going completely mad! It has nothing to do with the fact that Seto was an amazing…GAH!_

Atemu quickly slapped himself across the face at the direction of his thoughts. Going insane? Oh no, Atemu Santiago is official well within insanity.

Seto rented out two entire floors at a local inn for his crew, and Atemu wasted no time going straight to his room and flopping face first onto the lumpy, straw-filled mattress and fell instantly asleep.

* * *

><p>"Another rum, bartend." Seto called out as he lifted his fourth empty glass and dangled it in an impatient manner.<p>

Sleep was impossible. He had just buried twelve of his crew members, his ship was nearly sunk, his side ached like a frigid bitch, he was estimated to be stranded in Sale for at least four weeks, and his mind kept wandering to a certain stubborn cabin boy who tormented him without even trying.

The older, bearded bartender poured the pirate another rum and Seto picked up his glass intending to take a drink when a hand settled on his shoulder. He hated being touched, hated people at his back.

Seto turned his head enough to find a voluptuous raven-haired woman with large brown eyes, fair skin, and full rose-colored lips. He only needed to see her coy smile to realize he already hated the bitch.

"If you know what's good for you, woman, you'll take your hand off of me and leave." He spoke in a quiet, calm voice that radiated underlying threat.

"Ahh, don't be like that, sweetums." Seto cringed at the absurd nickname. "A strong sailor like you shouldn't be left alone after so many days out at sea. I can keep you company." She said in a husky, sultry voice. For someone other than Seto, it might've been able to coax a man into bed, but her target _was_ Seto.

"I'd rather keep company with ol' One Eye over there than take up with the likes of you." Seto snapped, referring to an old, decrepit man with a baldhead, snow-white beard that seemed to have been dunk into a vat of dirt, sagging skin, massive wrinkles, and three shekel-sized liver spots beside his right eye. He had only three teeth, which looked to be due to fall out at any moment, and a large black eye patch covered the left side of the man's face. "And since I don't see that happening either, you don't stand a chance. Now leave woman."

The woman huffed and said something in French before she stomped away in a snit. Seto grunted in satisfaction before he downed his glass of rum in one gulp, then stood and went up the stairs to his room to catch a few hours worth of sleep.

* * *

><p>"<em>Seto, I'm warning you. You s-stay away from me." Atemu hated himself for stuttering. The first thing one must know about when confronted by a wild beast is to never show fear…but it hadn't been fear that had him make the fatal error. <em>

"_Santiago, you know you can't hide forever. Some day soon you will concede to me." Seto's tongue grazed across his bottom lip, and Atemu couldn't help but follow the motion. "And that's one day I look forward to." _

_Atemu's body trembled with suppressed emotion, and he took a step back away from Seto, but that's when Seto moved. Suddenly Atemu was pinned up against a wall that hadn't been there a moment ago, his wrists held securely on either side of the boy's head. Atemu's knee came up, intending to hit Seto in the crotch, but Seto's knee stopped the motion and he wrapped one ankle around Atemu's and leaned against the boy until not even a piece of parchment could fit between them. _

_Atemu gasped, his breath catching briefly in his throat as he tried to force away the thought that Seto's body felt so good against him. _

_Seto's mouth covered Atemu's a moment later, sliding his tongue across Atemu's tightly sealed lips, asking for entry but figured he wouldn't get it. Instead, Seto shifted his hold on Atemu's arms so that one hand clasped the boy's hands above his head while the other forced Atemu's mouth open. _

_Atemu shuttered at the strange euphoric feel of Seto's tongue coaxing his into a response. He didn't want to feel this, didn't want to want this obnoxious, arrogant, stubborn bastard of a man…but Atemu was helpless against the older man's advances, and in minutes, Atemu finally gave up and his tongue began to duel Seto's for dominance. _

'_If you can't walk away now, at least you can beat him at his own game' Atemu thought as he heard Seto groan in approval at Atemu's cooperation. _

_The hand that had been keeping Atemu's mouth open slid down between their bodies, his fingertips skimming across the material of Atemu's tunic, feeling the heat radiating from the boy's skin. It was so smooth, so incredibly hot. Seto slipped the hem of the tunic out from beneath Atemu's waistband and he sought out to touch the boy's skin without the hindrance of the fabric. _

_Seto ground his groin into Atemu's, hearing the boy give off startled gasps until he moaned softly at the building tension. _

_Seto's fingers trailed up Atemu's perfectly formed abdomen, over the slight slope of his pectorals until his fingers touched the boy's nipple, pinching and rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. The action was rewarded by another bout of those sweet moans. _

"_I want you." Seto growled low in Atemu's ear, finally breaking away for them both to breathe, gulping in oxygen in short, sporadic gasps. "Now." _

_Atemu's scarlet eyes were cloudy with desire, and it took a while for the boy to really comprehend what Seto had said. _

"_Santiago." Seto said his name like a whispered oath, "I want you." He repeated, feeling as though he had to. _

_Atemu hesitated, a little intimidated by what was to come. He had a feeling that even if he had said no, Seto wouldn't let him go…and the boy wasn't entirely sure if he even wanted to stop. _

"_Then take me."_

"_Atemu." Seto all but purred before he went to kiss the boy again. _

"Santiago!"

Atemu was jolted awake by the unexpected call. Somebody pounded on his door, demanding an answer. He didn't know if he should be grateful or appalled at the interruption.

He stumbled out of bed and went to open the door, only a crack, so that nobody could see the affect his dream…_or nightmare?_...had on him.

Seto was on the other side of the door looking extremely agitated, "What the hell, kid? What took you so long?" He demanded.

"I didn't hear you. Do you have any idea how exhausted I was last night?"

Seto quirked an eyebrow, then he made a sound that might've been mistaken for a single chuckle, but since it was Seto, Atemu thought that was probably his insanity acting up again.

"Well now that you're up and about I've got a job for you. Come with me." Seto said, and turned to walk away.

"I've got to get changed first." Atemu shouted back at him.

"There's a fresh set of clothes on your nightstand. Hurry up." Seto said over his shoulder, but didn't stop walking.

Atemu closed the door and leaned his forehead against the aged oak. He shifted his hips, trying to alleviate the pressure of the leather pants stretched tight over his erection.

_Okay, it's official. I am certifiably insane. _

He used a vat of extremely cold water to help with his problem, changed into a crimson tunic and black leather trousers, slid on his boots, and snapped his holster and scabbard around his waist before heading out to track down Seto.


	8. Chapter Seven Drinking

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**S2Teennovelist: All right, confusion is fixed. Lol Happy for your critique. **

**AyaSeth: Well, read on and see for yourself. ^_^ **

**Enjoy! Review! On with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven – Drinking<strong>

Atemu was down on his hands and knees, his pant legs soaked through to his skin, scrubbing away the burn shadows from the wood of the deck on the Tide Whisperer, grumbling angrily under his breath. Honestly, he wouldn't mind this job all that much; at least it got his mind off the disturbing dream he had the night before, and it kept him busy so that he didn't have time to think about much except doing the job right. His only problem, however, was that he had his personal slave driver standing close by, barking orders every other minute.

"Don't you dare miss a single speck."

"I want this deck spotless, Cabin Boy."

"Is that all you can do? Put more elbow into it."

"I swear I _will_ have you plucking the barnacles from the hull this time if you don't do it right."

"At'ta boy, Santiago."

"You missed a spot."

"Do I have to point it out to you? It's right in front of your face. If it were a wild animal, it would've bitten you already."

Atemu scrubbed the handheld brush over gleaming oak wood, in every which way he could, and he still couldn't find Seto's imaginary spot. He had a mind to dunk his bucket of filthy water on the captain's head before he pounded his skull into the deck...but he'd have to clean up the mess afterward, and regardless of how appealing the imagery, Atemu wasn't in the mood for a second clean-up task.

"All right. Get up." Seto strode over from where he stood beside the crank, which controlled the platform where the tri-barrel gun was built, toward Atemu.

Atemu tossed the brush into the bucket, not caring that the water splashed across his biceps, and did as commanded. He leveled an indignant glare at the captain and said, "You satisfied?"

Seto scrutinized the deck with a critical eye before he grunted, "It'll do. Come on, I've something else for you."

"The barnacles?"

"Was that a suggestion?"

Atemu thought it best not to acknowledge that question with an answer.

Seto gestured for Atemu to follow, "You can leave those there for now."

"You're far too generous, captain." Atemu said drily as he fell into step behind Seto.

They headed back toward the inn and Seto ordered him to have a seat at the bar. When Atemu reluctantly obeyed, Seto dropped onto the stool beside the boy.

"Another rum, Captain?" The bartender from the night before inquired.

"Two actually." He pointed with his thumb at Atemu, who was busy scanning the crowd.

"Comin' right up."

Seto reached over and spun the stool around so that Atemu was facing the bar again, "Nothing's going to jump out and bite you, kid. Relax and have a drink." He said in a quiet, half-amused voice.

Atemu looked out from the corner of his narrowed eyes before brushing a lock of his blond bangs away from his face and behind his ear. The bartender placed two glasses of a dark, amber liquid before Seto and Atemu, and Seto drank his slowly to savor the taste.

"Have you ever drunk alcohol before?" He asked as he spied Atemu intently studying his drink.

"I have...but nothing that looked like this." Atemu admitted before he lifted the glass to his lips and sipped gingerly at the liquid. The liquid burned as he swallowed, and the bitter tang of the alcohol filled his tastebuds, but the initial irritants faded to make way for a full-bodied, sweetened flavor of a sort. "This is good. What is it?"

"Rum."

"Hmm." Atemu hummed before he took another drink, a larger one this time.

The two men sat in companionable silence as they drank their beverages, refilling them three extra times before Atemu spoke up, "This wasn't what I had expected, Captain. I thought you were giving me another task or something."

"Ah, we're in port. It's better to rest and relax while you can than working yourself to the bone."

"Working _myself_ to the bone? Who exactly gave me all of those stupid jobs? Not that I'm complaining really." Atemu mumbled the last sentence, but Seto still caught it.

"I figured it's what you needed. I know a thing or two about distractions, Santiago." Seto replied and took a drink.

"Is that right? Distraction from what?"

"I don't know, kid. You tell me? What are you running from?"

"I am _not_ running, from anything." Atemu sputtered indignantly.

"Right." Seto's tone implied disbelief.

Atemu drank the remainder of his third glass and signaled for a refill. He drank a few gulps and sighed at the pleasant taste of the liquor.

"I'm not running Seto. I'm just...not allowing myself to feel right now." Atemu's words had an underlying slur.

"Why?" Seto quirked an eyebrow at this.

"Because...because if I do, then I'll...I'll mourn my family. I know that I'll never see them again, and right about now, they think that I'm dead...right now the pain's too raw."

Seto wasn't going to break the kid's train of thought. There was a saying that drunken lips kept no secrets. Atemu might be buzzed, but if Seto spoke up now, Atemu might snap back to his senses.

"My father...I can't imagine what he must be feeling right now. First he lost his wife...my mother...to typhoid fever, and then he learns that his oldest son was raped and murdered by a strange man in the dead of night. What might Yugi be thinking now? I don't even know how his arm is mending, or how he's fairing with the news. Mahado knows...I assume...that I'm alive, but it's not like he can say anything to them...not without blowing the entire plan."

Seto motioned for the bartender to refill Atemu's glass.

Atemu didn't seem to notice the unexplained fullness of his cup, and continued to sip at his drink.

"So...I don't want to think about it...I'll find something to occupy my time with until the urge to revisit the past is gone...at least until I feel strong enough to bear it."

Seto hummed in acknowledgment.

At the sound, Atemu's eyes widened slightly, and his mouth went half-slack, "You did this on purpose." He accused.

"No. I just wanted you to take a break and relax. You were the one who started spewing your life story."

Atemu stood and finished the rest of his drink, since it would be a shame to waste the liquor, before he walked out of the bar toward the entrance to the inn. He would bathe, clean and rewrap his left hand, and then he would go back to sleep.

Atemu couldn't take the words he'd already said back, but at least he could prevent himself from saying anything more damning.

_Devious, conniving bastard aren't you Seto? __You almost had me fooled..._


	9. Chapter Eight Secrets Revealed

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight – Mystery Revealed <strong>

It had been two weeks since Atemu had almost told Seto his sob story, and things have been particularly strained between the captain and the boy.

Seto spent the majority of his day overseeing the repairs of the Tide Whisperer to make sure they were up to his standards. For reasons Atemu didn't quite understand, that ship was the second most important thing to the man in his life; second only to Mokuba. Atemu admitted to minimal curiosity, but he wouldn't ask, because that would lead to him having to return some of his personal information, and that wouldn't do.

Atemu spent the first few days wandering in the town, purchasing his own clothes, weapons, boots, and he took advantage of the food available, as did Jounouchi, Tristan, Malik, Ryou, Mokuba, and Ryuji. Atemu had taken a liking to the misfit bunch of sailors, and found himself highly entertained whenever he was around them. Atemu was glad for the distraction, and he felt almost like family.

Still, something kept nagging at him. In the back of his mind, he felt restless and irritable, finding himself frequently thinking about his family back in Barcelona; of Yugi, Atemu's eleven-year-old brother, in particular.

Finally, against his better judgment, Atemu wrote a telegram to Mahado asking for an update, as well as assuring his older cousin that Atemu was indeed alive and relatively well. He wasn't sure how detailed Seto and Mahado's original plan to get him out and away from Prince Louis, but he was certain that he didn't realize Atemu would have his own plan. A courier ship passed through the seaport just before dawn every day, and Atemu took advantage of the opportunity.

Hopefully now Mahado could relieve some of his unneeded stress.

Seeing that it was still dark out when he returned to the inn the White Dragons were occupying, and he decided that he could catch some sleep now that his immediate worries were soothed.

* * *

><p>Seto was having trouble sleeping.<p>

He was beginning to feel a bit stir-crazy about still being stranded on land. He vowed the moment his ship was finished the White Dragons would be back out on the ocean where they belonged. To occupy his mind, he decided to go down to the tavern and grab a drink or two. Alcohol did help him, when insomnia raged, to get him to sleep.

He was on his third glass of whiskey when he saw Atemu trudge through tavern heading up toward the rooms.

_What's he up to this early?_ He wondered before he paid for his drinks and followed the boy upstairs. Atemu sometimes had a habit of thinking out loud when he thought that he was alone, and Seto hoped to catch something useful.

Unfortunately, Atemu wasn't in a chatty mood, even with himself, and Seto watched as he disappeared behind his door.

Seto felt a bit drowsy, and so he made for his own room to catch some shuteye before dawn broke.

"Atemu, come and join me." Seto said, gesturing toward the seat across from him.

Seto was sitting in one of the seaport's restaurants in a corner booth with his back facing the wall. Atemu mentally kicked himself for choosing the same eatery as Seto. Seto continued gesturing, sharply this time, and it was implied that Seto was giving an order, not a suggestion.

Atemu finally obeyed and slid into the opposite booth, and a young woman with long, wavy blonde hair, peculiar lavender eyes, and smooth porcelain skin came over to their table to see if Atemu wanted anything.

"The quail, ma'am." Atemu replied, and then added, "And a glass of cool water, please?" His mama taught him manners.

"Coming right up, doll." The blonde waitress winked at him and left.

"Yes captain?" Atemu turned a semi-hostile tone at the tall brunet.

"I've something we need to talk about." He said, his cerulean eyes boring into Atemu's scarlet ones, not leaving any room for argument. "You see, if you are to become a member of my crew, I must warn you that there will be no secrets." Seto said bluntly.

Atemu responded with his eyebrows shooting up, pointing toward his hairline, before they narrowed suspiciously, "I'm concerned about where this is going, Captain."

"Well then, let me explain. I get how you have things you'd rather keep private, but should you in any way be doing anything that could jeopardize my crew, and more importantly my brother, I need to know about it. The mysterious act is getting old."

"Mysterious act?" Atemu was having trouble comprehending. Why would Seto think he would even consider harming the White Dragons?

"Two days ago, just before dawn, I saw you slinking back to your room. Now, I may not be an expert, but I do know that you value your rest, and that you would be hard pressed to be up before the crack of dawn. Especially when you don't have to be awake."

"You think I-"

"I don't know what's going on inside that head of yours, Santiago. And frankly I'm getting very tired of your secrets. So, I'm going to ask you once. What were you up to that morning?"

_Okay, he really needs to redefine "ask" because that wasn't asking._

Atemu debated about telling Seto anything. A part of him was actually somewhat relieved that Seto had cornered him and was demanding that he tell all. The other part of Atemu was furious about being cornered, and was close to bulking at the captain's snobbish order.

_He's worried about his crew. _

"I sent a letter to Mahado. The courier ship passes by in the morning at five."

Seto cocked an eyebrow, "Go on."

"I-" Atemu cut himself off when the waitress returned with his food. Suddenly he didn't feel too hungry. "Thank you." He said to the woman.

"No problem." And then she walked away again.

"You were saying?" Seto persisted when Atemu didn't immediately continue.

Atemu sighed, sounding tired, "I've been having these strange feelings lately. I feel as though something is going on back at home with my family. I knew that I couldn't reveal to them that I was alive, or else Louis might suspect something and come looking for me. But Mahado, he knew about the plan to remove me from Spain, and so I felt it was safe for me to contact him."

"And that's all?" Seto wondered. "You simply sent a telegram?"

"Yes." Atemu said with a nod of his head.

"You know, I wouldn't have such a hard time believing you if I wasn't so suspicious. In my experience, even those closest to you can be wearing a mask." Seto said.

Atemu glanced around uncomfortably, knowing that Seto was about to demand he tell _everything_. And then the boy sighed, "Can we not talk about this here?"

"Fine." Seto stood and dragged Atemu to his feet, tossing a few silver coins onto the table to pay for their dinner and Seto led the boy out of the restaurant.

Atemu jerked his arm out of Seto's grip, "I can walk on my own, asshole. No need to keep on hauling me around like a dog on a leash."

"Watch yourself boy." Seto's voice was underlain with threat and promise.

"Then don't touch me." Atemu shot back.

Seto grunted disapprovingly and started back toward the inn where he planned on hearing everything Atemu had to say, by any means necessary.

* * *

><p>"All right, continue."<p>

Seto watched as Atemu dropped onto the bed in Atemu's room while Seto sat on a large, stuff chair across from the boy.

"On one condition, Seto. Every question that I answer, I get to ask you a question."

"Bullshit." Seto snapped.

"Then you'll just have to do without hearing anything that I have to say. The doors right there behind you."

Seto snarled at Atemu, absolutely despising his position.

All things considered, Seto and Atemu were at a seaport, and off of the ship, authority would only go so far. Pressing his position wouldn't only create more tension between the two men, even though Seto didn't understand why he cared, and Seto wouldn't be setting a good example for his crew. He never wanted to abuse his position, knowing what it meant to be in his position, and he wasn't about to start now.

He took a deep breath to calm his rising fury and then nodded jerkily, "Fine, I'll agree to your terms."

"Very well." Atemu slid back on the bed until his back was touching the wall, and he crossed his arms and his legs, making himself comfortable for the long conversation ahead.

* * *

><p>Atemu finished telling the story of his past, and more exclusively about the past few months following his mother's death, Seto was stunned at how much the boy had been through in his short life. Although, Seto had it pretty difficult growing up as well, it was a bit unsettling to know that bad things happen to the best of us all the time without any explanation.<p>

"All right, your turn to answer my questions. I get five." Atemu reminded the captain of their agreement, and Seto nodded his head in grudging acknowledgment.

"First question, how did you become a pirate?"

Seto sighed, memories of the past that he had tried to keep away came rushing back to the surface in his mind.

"When my grandfather, the former King Charles II, felt his time was running short, the current King Phillip had manipulated my grandfather into naming Phillip his successor instead of my father. Once my grandfather was dead, Phillip had tried to execute my father, my mother, my brother, and I so that we couldn't pose a threat to his reign. He had succeeded in capturing and killing my father and mother, but Mokuba and I had stolen away on a ship that was docked in the harbor. It had been a privateer's ship, and Mokuba and I became enthralled by the sea and everything it stood for. We were not bound to the laws of the country that had turned her back on us, we only had to worry about ourselves and what it meant for us to stay alive.

"We found out, later on that first year of Phillip's rule, that our grandfather had left Mokuba and I something in his will. The Tide Whisperer had been passed down going on three generations, and it has become our home. After we retrieved the ship, we gathered a crew, and we set sail. To be accurate, the White Dragons are privateers and not full-blown pirates, but since we don't have a home country to claim, we are technically pirates."

Atemu was silent, and then he continued, "So you've been out on the ocean for how long?"

"I was twenty when my grandfather died."

"So, you and your crew are practically all you guys have, and the ship?"

"We earned our reputation by protecting our own and being particularly aggressive when the Tide Whisperer was in danger of being capsized. That ship is our home, as it is yours, now that you're a White Dragon as well."

Atemu had two questions left, and he had to make them count.

"Did you mean to get me drunk the other night so that you could get information from me?"

"No. I told you, you were the one who started spill your guts. I simply listened."

"Why did you kiss me? On the night of the siege?"

Seto smiled devilishly, and a single dimple appeared at the corner of Seto's mouth. "Because I felt like it."


	10. Chapter 9 Bar Fight

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Warning: Graphic fight scene; blood/gore. **

**AnzuFan: That's what I love most about this pair. It's the epitome of the phrase "opposites attract". Don't worry, there's more where that came from. **

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><p><strong>Chapter Nine Bar Brawl<strong>

Atemu stared at the man across from him with equal awe and subtle disbelief. Seto…was a _prince_? A prince whose country and people turned their backs on him and Mokuba, leaving them with nothing but a ship and a renegade's reputation?

_And I thought I had it bad…?_

"Don't feel sorry for me, kid." Seto snapped. "Despite how it happened, I couldn't have asked for a better life than I'm living now. I may not have the traditional home with four walls, but I've got everything I need right where I am."

_Well, if you put it that way…_

Atemu stood up and stretched, his body curving as languidly as a cat, and he back popped several times making the boy groan in pleasure.

"Well now that we know that I'm not going to go for anyone's throats in their sleep, want to go down and see what the crew's up to? I feel like playing a couple hands of poker." Atemu offered as he left the room. A few minutes later, after Atemu was seated at one of the larger tables down in the tavern, playing against seven other men, three of which were White Dragons, Seto followed, feeling oddly…lighter now that he had told someone of his burden.

* * *

><p>"Lay 'em down, boys." The brawny, dark-skinned dealer announced in his booming baritone.<p>

Malik was first, placing a hand of three of a kind in nines.

Two of the strangers at the table had already folded.

Mokuba had a flush of spades.

Jounouchi tossed his cards, facedown on the table in a snit. "Shit." He mumbled.

The dealer had a full house, nines over fives.

Atemu laid his down, his face looking positively bored, as he revealed a four of a kind in jacks.

Mokuba, Malik, and Jounouchi all groaned, while the two strangers glared venomously at Atemu after realizing that he had just won the last seven rounds.

Seto cocked an eyebrow, cupping the fingers of one hand around his chin in contemplation and grudging appreciation. "Hmm."

Atemu reached out and pulled his winnings toward him from their place at the middle of the table.

"You feel like playing, Seto?" Mokuba asked as he looked up at his older brother.

"Not right now." He replied, still more interested in watching Atemu.

There was something about the way Atemu played that reminded Seto about the boy's youth. For the majority of the time the captain and cabin boy were together in the same vicinity, Atemu projected such a mature personality. It was difficult to keep in mind that he was only two years older than Mokuba.

Atemu had a youthful exuberance hidden beneath his seemingly emotionless mask that never told what he held. Even Seto, who was considered one of the best poker players in Europe, if not the best, was hard-pressed to admit that he couldn't hide his reactions as well as the kid could. He felt like he was seeing something rare, watching Atemu enjoying himself.

The dealer shuffled the deck and distributed five cards to each player. Seto pulled out a nearby wooden chair, spun it around so that he could straddle it, his arms resting across the back, and he watched the players bet on their hands, exchanged their cards, and studied the careful contemplation that schooled Atemu's expression.

"Three." The boy murmured. Instantly, the blank look came over his face when the dealer dealt him three new cards, and Seto wondered what the kid had this time.

Jounouchi folded, but other than that, everyone else stayed in on this hand.

"Lay 'em down."

Mokuba had a straight, queens high.

Malik had a full house, fours over twos.

The two strange men each had two pair; one had been tens and eights, the other sevens and threes.

The dealer had a four of a kind in fives.

Atemu had a straight flush, kings high.

Seto whistled appreciatively.

This time when Atemu reached for his winnings, he had to jerk his hand back as one of the strange men pulled a knife. The blade dug deep into the table right between Atemu's middle and ring finger of his right hand.

"What the fuck? Are you nuts?" Malik shouted in Atemu's defense.

"You cheat." The man slurred slightly, wiggling the knife to dislodge it from the wood.

"I have done no such thing." Atemu barked, his scarlet eyes darkening to crimson as his rage built.

The man had bolted to his feet and started toward Atemu; Seto was on his feet in an instant, his arms encircling the drunkard's waist before he slammed the man to the ground.

The man's buddy at the table, as well as six other equally bulky, more or less drunken men, stood and surrounded Seto, Atemu, Mokuba, Malik, and Jounouchi.

"We don't take kindly to cheaters." The fallen man's buddy said in a slightly less articulate tone.

Atemu rolled his eyes as his hand twitched, hovering over the handle of his cutlass, waiting for the slightest provocation to draw it. He just didn't want to have to fight these moronic bastards if he could help it, especially over something as trivial as imagined deceit.

"You harm him, and you'll wish you'd never been born." Seto hissed as his hands tingled with the urge to strike.

"Ooo, so scary." One man mocked, infuriating the captain even further.

Seto Leandro was _not_ to be made a fool of.

Atemu drew up behind Seto, placing his back against Seto's. The other White Dragons were already keeping an eye on every small motion to judge when they would have to retaliate.

"You'll pay for stealing my money, boy." The original instigator spat, getting to his feet and then he lunged at Atemu.

Atemu met the man halfway, he slammed his fist into the drunkard's ribs. The man staggered and Atemu took advantage of his broken equilibrium. He slid behind the man, slipping his arms under the man's armpits and lacing his fingers behind the man's neck. The drunkard was effectively pinned, and Atemu slowly lowered himself into a crouch, bending the man's spine in a way it wasn't meant to be bent. It wasn't long before he heard, and felt, the sickening crack of the man's spine snapping in half.

That first attack set off a lethal domino effect.

Seto drew his cutlass and slammed the butt of the handle into one man's chest. The man clutched at the stinging spot on his chest and, while distracted, Seto grabbed either side of the man's head and twisted. He pivoted and kicked his leg high, his foot connecting with the side of the second man's neck. He dropped like a ton of bricks, instantly unconscious from the jarring of his head and the pain of the impact. Seto buried the tip of his cutlass into the man's heart and jerked.

Malik got punched once in the stomach and once in the face. He had moved to avoid a direct punch to his nose, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge completely. His right cheekbone caught the hit; his lip busted open and a trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his face.

"Oh no, you didn't just mess with my face." He growled menacingly and lunged, his shoulder burrowing into the fool who had struck him, shoving him backward. Malik reached out and grabbed hold of the man's dreadlocks and he tugged the man's head closer, his knee coming up to collide with the man's face. He then stepped back, leaning his weight on one leg before he kicked the man back a few feet. He landed in a heap near Seto's feet.

Seto stomped down on the man's throat and grinned in satisfaction at his choked scream as the man suffocated.

Jounouchi and Mokuba were outnumbered five to two. Smirking, Jounouchi wrapped his arms around Mokuba's chest, and he literally threw the smaller teen at three of the approaching drunkards who had stood too close together. Mokuba maneuvered in midair so that he barreled into the three at an angle that sent them to the ground. The boy rolled into a crouch and slit each man's throat before rejoining the fray.

Atemu half hissed, half snarled as he felt a sharp, searing pain rip through his shoulder from behind. He threw himself backwards, and although that served to bury the knife deeper, the movement pushed his attacker off balance. Atemu whirled and the side of his fist drove into the side of the man's head. He then grabbed a hold of the man's collar and dragged him forward, head butting the man's in the face. A shard of the man's nose shot up into the man's brain. His eyes rolled back in his skull, blood filled his eyes like tears and from his nostrils. He was dead before he hit the ground.

He grimaced as the man's blood splattered onto his face, but he paid little mind to it. Atemu reached behind him and yanked the knife out of his shoulder before he flipped the blade in his hand and threw the knife to bury between the mans shoulder blade's and in his heart. He had been sneaking up behind Seto while he was preoccupied with the fight and would've killed him. The man froze before he turned his head enough so that the last thing he saw was Atemu's furious crimson eyes.

Seto whirled to find Atemu behind him, and then he looked down at the dead man, understanding immediately what the boy had done.

Once the fight was over, the White Dragons took in a couple of deep breaths before each man considered the others' wounds.

Atemu seemed to have the worse of the wounds after being stabbed. Mokuba's eyebrow had been slit and blood trailed down the side of the teen's face. Jounouchi clutched his bruised stomach but was more or less unscathed. Malik's lip was starting to swell and an impressive bruise was blooming on his cheek; he looked like he was still spoiling for a fight. Seto's knuckles bled freely after one of the men had raised a wooden serving tray to block one of Seto's punches, bursting his knuckles in the process. Needless to say that the fool had been efficiently beaten afterward, but his hand still stung like a frigid bitch.

Violence and death were nothing new in the Pirate Haven, Sale`. The occupants of the tavern simply went on contentedly sipping their beverages, gorging themselves on their suppers, or gambling as they paid no attention to the battle. Some of the waiters came out to discard the bodies, but other than that, nothing was done to indicate that there had been a fight that resulted in seven men's deaths.

Seto came up beside Atemu, "Come on, let me take a look at that wound."

Atemu glared, "Being part of your crew is seriously hazardous to my health, Seto. I swear at this rate I won't last out the month."

Seto chuckled at Atemu's comments as he led the boy upstairs, the other White Dragons following close behind.


	11. Chapter 10 Telegram

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Enjoy, everyone! Review!**

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews so far, they really mean a lot to me. I like to know I'm not writing this for no reason. ^_^ **

**Chapter Ten Telegram**

"Hmm..." A young boy hummed in concentration as he studied to small sheet of paper on his hand. At times, the boy found it somewhat difficult to make out his father's penmanship, and since he didn't have much formal education as of yet, it was also somewhat difficult to understand exactly what the chicken scratch meant after he deciphered the contents.

"Yugi!" A smooth, masculine tenor called out, and the boy glanced up in surprise, a bright smile lighting his cherubic features upon seeing another boy rushing toward him.

"Hi, Leon." He cried out, and the boys briefly embraced each other as though they hadn't seen each other in years while in actuality it had only been a couple of weeks. "How are you?" Yugi asked in enthusiasm.

"I'm doing great!" Leon replied, Yugi's exuberance felt contagious. "How's everything with you?"

Yugi's smile fell slightly at the question, and his lip subtly quivered, "Have you heard about Yami?" He asked.

"No, why? What happened?"

Yugi's expression turned to sorrow, and a single trail of tears escaped from his large, amethyst eyes. "He...he's missing. Everyone keeps saying that he's dead...that some stranger had broken into the castle...Leon, I'm scared out of my mind. And what's worse is that everyone...even dad...thinks that the rumors are true and that Yami was killed." Yugi explained as he took deep breaths, trying to keep his voice steady as he explained even as his chest grew tight, as if his heart was being squeezed by some invisible hand, and it took a great effort to simply breathe properly.

"But you don't believe that?" Leon asked after the initial shock and genuine sadness at the news faded a bit.

"Oh, no." Yugi said confidently, shaking his head violently from side to side to punctuate his conviction. "Yami is much too strong for some strange man to simply cut him down...Yami's always armed, you see, and he would fight to the death..." Yugi paused as those last few words brought painful imaginings. "Yami's not dead...of that I'm sure...but I'm worried sick about what's become of him." Yugi finished.

Leon hesitantly nodded. He didn't know Yamir all too great, the older teen was often working with master Solomon or helping his father out around their property, but what he did know of Yamir told him that Yugi was more likely right about his brother's uncertain fate.

The boys lapsed into silence, and they continued to walk through the streets of Barcelona toward the city market to buy groceries, talking back and forth about less melancholy subjects.

As they walked, three royal guards cam seemingly out of nowhere, blocking Yugi's and Leon's path. They said nothing, even after the boy's demanded to know what it was the soldiers wanted. Leon was suddenly torn away from Yugi's side. The last thing the young tri-colored boy saw was his friend struggling within the grasp of one man just before a linen bag was thrust over his head and shackles were snapped around his wrists.

"Captain." Yugi heard one man call out, "We found the boy."

* * *

><p>"Goddamn it, that hurt." Atemu snapped as he turned his head to glare at the captain, who sat cross-legged on the bed directly behind the boy. He was applying the godawful paste that was meant to stem infection but felt more like he was gouging a deeper hole into his back.<p>

"Stop squirming and it won't hurt as much." Seto retorted, pulling the cloth away from Atemu's back when the kid jerked his shoulder away from the wound in reflex of trying to escape the burn, and then went right back to smearing the paste over the kid's shoulder. "Besides, it was your own fault for allowing them the chance to stab you in the first place. You're only lucky that the bastard was too damned drunk to actually aim."

"Well, next time I'll remember to paint a red X across my heart from the front and back so that they won't miss again. "X marks the spot" and all that shpeel."

"That's actually an offensive assumption. Pirates remember where they hide their treasure, they don't need some damned map with a great, red X on it to relocate it. That's just begging for someone to find it and take it for themselves." Seto corrected heatedly.

"You take things way too damned literal. AH!" He hissed as Seto pressed the paste-coated cloth a little too roughly against his stab wound.

"Shut up already. You're voice is grating."

And, to Seto's annoyance, and strangely, slight amusement, Atemu launched off into a detailed description of how he would love to beat Seto into the floor, and exactly how he would do it.

As Atemu rambled on, Seto finished spreading the paste over the boy's wound before he put the cloth down and picked up a square piece of linen gauze. He carefully placed the gauze over the boy's wound, adjusted Atemu so that his arm stuck out slightly from his side, and wrapped a length of bandages around Atemu's shoulder and chest.

"There, you can quit your bitching." Seto told the boy and stood, heading for the door, "Get some sleep, Santiago. You wouldn't want to miss the courier in the morning."

"Seto?" The captain turned toward the boy and quirked an eyebrow, "You're welcome. And thanks."

"Hmm, yeah well, don't get yourself stabbed next time. I would be loath to find a new cabin boy to take care of my ship once we get underway."

Seto shut the door on Atemu's indignant reply.

A small, arrogant grin graced the pirate's face once he knew Atemu couldn't see him, and he turned and walked down the corridor to his own bedroom. _You're something else, Santiago. I don't know if that's good or bad...but you are._

* * *

><p>Atemu was down at the docks at five the following morning. He wasn't sure how long it would be for his telegram to reach Mahado, or for Mahado's reply to arrive in Sale`, but Atemu wasn't going to take any chances of missing the letter.<p>

A tall, brawny man in a navy blue tunic and matching trousers, with long silver hair and brown eyes stepped up in front of Atemu, "You're Santiago?" He asked in a surprisingly high-pitched masculine tenor.

"Yes." He confirmed, his hands clenching into fists at his sides, his anxiety sent skyrocketing as the older man pulled a cream colored envelope out from his trouser pocket.

"Then this is for you." The man said, and Atemu snatched it out of his hand instantly.

"Thanks." He blurted before he spun and headed back for the inn.

* * *

><p><em>"Dear Yamir...or Atemu Santiago as you so prefer;<em>

_ I am thrilled to hear that you are well, cousin, and I am grateful to know that Capatin Leandro had arrived in time. _

_ A few days ago, King Phillip stepped down as king, and Prince Louis is now officially the new King of Spain. I don't know _

_if this is something you care about, but I just thought you should know. _

_ Your father is well, although he is torn up about your "death", and Yugi...Honestly, Atemu, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but Yugi has been taken by King Louis's guards to become his new court-"_

Atemu paused in his reading to take a series a deep, sporadic breaths. He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath while he read, and Atemu felt close to hyperventilating as panic set in. Steeling himself, he forced himself to finish reading

_"-ier. It would seem that there has been a misunderstanding, and that King Louis had mistaken Yugi for you, Atemu, and he won't listen to us when we tell him otherwise. It would seem that King Louis is adamant about having you to himself..."_

Atemu had had enough. He'd found out what he needed to know, and that was all that was important.

Damn it, Atemu knew something was wrong. Why hadn't he thought about the twin-like resemblance between Atemu and his brother? He should've at the very least considered the possibility that this might happen. He should have...

_What? _Atemu thought, _Warn an eleven-year-old that he might be mistaken for his nineteen-year-old brother and become Louis's pleasure slave in his brother's place? Blew your entire plan out of the water to make sure that Yugi's was at least aware of the danger? Face it, there was nothing you could do to prevent this._

Atemu paced the confines of his room, the telegram crumbled in his fist as he thought. After a moment, he paused mid-step, a strange look appearing on the boy's face.

"No...I couldn't do anything to prevent this from happening." He whispered aloud, "But by God, I _will_ put a stop to it from continuing."


	12. Chapter 11 Panic Attack

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. Enjoy! Review! You know the drill. ^_^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven Panic Attack<strong>

Atemu blindly shoved random articles of clothing into a medium-sized beige, drawstring knapsack. He would've simply left everything where it was to save time, but the rational part of his mind reminded him that he needed to take at least the bare essentials before he left the port. He couldn't do much without his dirk, his clothes, or his pistol if he hoped to rescue Yugi.

Finally, he pulled the knapsack closed and threaded his uninjured arm through the strap before he rushed from the room.

_Hold on, Yugi. I'm coming._

* * *

><p>Seto handed a small leather pouch filled with gold and silver coins to a tall blond man, with cobalt blue eyes and was built like a wall of muscle. He wore his hair close-cropped, with two thin strands that fell in front of his ears and curved around the man's sharp cheekbones.<p>

"Pleasure doing business with you." The bear-man commented in a deep, gravelly baritone.

"You as well, Raphael." Seto replied and dismissed him by turning on his heel and strolled up the gangplank to his newly repaired Tide Whisperer.

He took in a deep breath, scenting the salt-laden breeze that rose up from the north. The sun crept ever so slowly into the air, as if it were rising out from the depths of the Earth. It was a grand day to set sail. It had seemed like ages since last Seto was out at sea. He climbed up onto the stern of the deck, sliding his palm over the smooth mahogany of the steering wheel, grasping one of the spokes simply to feel the reassuring texture of the cool wood in his palm. He could hear the wind thread through the ropes and canvas, and the dull snaps of the Tide Whisperer's flag atop of the foremast.

Seto finally brought himself back to reality, enough for him to walk back toward the gangplank. He would wake the crew and they would finally get underway, but he didn't get very far before Atemu practically trampled him.

He grabbed onto the boy's shoulders, and had to tighten his grip when Atemu started struggling.

"I don't have time to deal with you right now, Seto. Let me go." Atemu ground out between rapid breaths from having run the two and a half miles from the tavern.

"You'd best take a better tone with me, Santiago." Seto snapped after squeezing the boy's shoulders, mindful not to jar the stab wound but enough to get Atemu's attention. "Why don't you tell me what's happened?"

"It's none of your damned business." Atemu retorted heatedly. "I've gotta get out of here. Like, yesterday!"

This wasn't getting him anywhere. Seto was marginally concerned about what had triggered this state within the kid, but he wouldn't get any answers if Atemu continued in his hysteria.

"Pull yourself together." Seto growled, "And start from the beginning."

Atemu debated inwardly about involving Seto, the pirate could see it in the boy's eyes. He broke off into a short, jaunty pacing before coming to a decision. The boy dug out a sheet of crumbled up paper from his trousers' pocket and all but shoved it into Seto's face.

"_This_ is what's happened."

Seto took the document from Atemu's fingers and read it from a more comfortable distance.

"Well, that's unfortunate." He murmured once he was finished reading.

"That's it?" Atemu shouted, "That's all you can fucking say? That Yugi being captured by that ruthless, spineless, gutter son of a fucking whoremonger is UNFORTUNATE?"

Seto drew his fist back and punched Atemu in the face. It wasn't hard enough to send the boy to the ground, but was enough to make him stumble a few steps. A copper hand rose to cup Atemu's cheek, his scarlet eyes wide in shock and tinged with pain, but under it all, Seto could still see the panicked kid.

He couldn't exactly blame the kid for his fear. Had the situations been switched and Mokuba had been in Yugi's place, and Seto in Atemu's, then Seto would react more or less the same as Atemu was now. That was the only reason he didn't pull rank.

"Yugi needs you sane, Santiago. So quit your shouting, take a breath, and start at the top. First thing's first, we need to awaken the crew."

"Wait, what?" Atemu asked incredulously.

Seto ignored the question and continued on back toward the tavern. He pounded on each of his crews' doors, eliciting groans of protest and angry expletives.

"To the ship. Now." He barked as each door opened to his insistence.

Before long, his crew was assembled on the deck of the Tide Whisperer.

"Prepare to cast off." He shouted as he ascended the gangplank last.

The men scrambled to do his bidding, each one manning their appropriate stations. Fifteen Dragons worked to unfurl the sails, twenty of the men took inventory, the rest prepared to guide the ship out of the Sale` harbor.

Seto stood at the steering wheel. He threaded through the harbor and out into open sea.

"Mokuba, chart a course to Barcelona." He ordered when he caught sight of the raven-haired boy.

Mokuba obeyed without question, but some of the men gave their captain inquisitive looks.

Seto growled low in his throat, "We've got some loose ends to tie up back at home." He explained vaguely to the men. They didn't need to know the details until he and Atemu figured out what needed to be done.

* * *

><p>Atemu paced the confines of the captain's cabin, his hands clasped behind his back, head bowed slightly in thought, every so often he'd growl in frustration.<p>

It didn't make sense. Why in the hell would the captain suddenly be trying to help? He had no obligation to Yugi, and Seto had said it himself, oh so charmingly, on Atemu's first day on the Tide Whisperer that Seto's obligation to his and Mahado's deal to get Atemu away from Spain ended when he set foot on deck.

He supposed that perhaps it could be summed up to sympathetic situations. He knew that Seto was very protective of his little brother, and perhaps he is projecting what he would do in Atemu and Yugi's situation if Seto and Mokuba were the ones going through this whole Louis sex slave shit.

Then again, that didn't sound like something Seto would do…not really. Sure, he could be sympathetic, but he wouldn't drop everything to suddenly set out back to Spain, where Seto was in more jeopardy than Atemu and Yugi are. Atemu should've taken his chances and caught a ride with some other ship back to Barcelona. He might've been able to convince the captain of the courier to take him home, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything happening to Seto, Mokuba, and the White Dragons.

Atemu pivoted at the sound of the cabin door opening, and Seto stepped in with solemn determination written on his face.

"Why?" Atemu demanded immediately. "Why are you doing this? Tell me why you're going to risk going back to Spain when you have more to lose than I do?"

"I don't have to explain my actions to you, Santiago." Seto snapped as his cerulean eyes narrowed, "What I decide to do is my concern alone."

"Not if it risks the lives of your crew and your brother. Not when the risk you're taking involves my brother and me. I can find another ship to take me back, you didn't-"

"Shut up." Seto growled, and he slammed his mouth down onto Atemu's.

Atemu was too shocked by the abruptness of the action to respond, and before he had a chance to react, Seto pulled away.

"I said that I don't have to explain my actions to you, kid." Seto murmured in a low voice…would that be considered purring?...and continued to look into Atemu's scarlet eyes as he continued, "But if you must know…it's because I'm returning a favor."

"What favor?" Atemu asked, sounding dazed. _Why don't I feel angry?_

"Twice since I met you, you've saved my life. And you've saved Mokuba's once. This is my repayment for what you've done."

"I didn't do it so that you'd be indebted to me, Captain." Atemu snapped.

"It doesn't matter. Whether that was your intention or not, this is your price for my debt. I'll help you save your brother."

"I didn't tell you about this to get you to help me with my problems. _My _problems. Yugi's my responsibility, and this is something that I-"

Seto didn't waste his time talking this time. He simply leaned in again and pressed his lips to Atemu's. It seemed to be an effective way of silencing the kid, because once again, Atemu was speechless when Seto pulled away.

"This is my payment…whether you like it or not. I'm not foolish enough to drag my crew into this, so you can relax. This is something I will…we will…do on our own."

Atemu stared up into Seto's eyes, searching for any sign of deceit. He didn't think that Seto would be playing him in this sort of situation, but still he had to know the truth.

There was no dishonesty, no false words. Seto's eyes practically screamed in testament to his promise. Suddenly…Atemu didn't feel scared. He was worried about Yugi, there was no doubt about that…but he knew that he wouldn't be going through this alone.

"Well then, Captain," Atemu spoke, leaning back a little and setting his hands on his hips, "We've got three days to figure a way for me to fight with this wound of mine. I can't afford to be slowed down."

"Well, there's a simple solution to that." Seto turned and motioned with his head toward the door, "What do you say to an early morning duel?"


	13. Chapter 12 Swordplay

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Warning: There is lemon in this chapter, so if you don't like it…uh, this is a prideshipping fic so why are you reading this far? **

**Enjoy, review, and all of that good stuff! ^_^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve – Swordplay <strong>

Atemu jerked his head back, his back arching at the momentum, narrowly keeping the tip of Seto's sword from cutting his throat. The boy's arm came up, slicing through the air toward Seto's gut. The captain leapt back, his blade slashing vertically at Atemu's body, but the kid stopped the action with his own sword and knocked the pirate's hand away.

Atemu's arm was out away from his own body and Seto pressed the advantage. He lunged, slamming his shoulder into the boy's chest and shoving him back up against the wall behind him.

Atemu let out a muffled cry of pain as the action jostled his shoulder, his hand let go of his sword and it clattered to the ground.

The two men panted from exertion, the brilliant light of the late-morning sun filtering through the windows glistened off of the sweat on their bodies. Cobalt eyes met burning scarlet, and Seto read something in those eyes that was familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he might've seen it.

After a long moment of crackling emotion, Seto stepped back and considered the boy with a critical eye.

Part of him felt a twinge of guilt for adding further injury to the boy, but at the start of their training sessions, Atemu had insisted that Seto hold nothing back, and so he hadn't.

"You're good, kid, but the way you're fighting now will never be enough to save your brother. Maybe in a fair fight you might stand a chance, but Louis and his guards will not fight fair. They'll hone in on your every weakness and press them until you're exhausted, and then they'll finish you without mercy. You have to learn to push past the pain, to stop relying on the freedom you get from not wearing your tunic. Those things will be the death of you if you continue to use them."

Seto pushed the toe of his boot under Atemu's discarded tunic, kicked it up into the air, and tossed it over to the boy.

"Your enemies won't give you the time to undress, and you won't always have the chance to remove your tunic if you're suddenly attacked. So we're going to have to work on that. There's no time like the present, and all that." Seto instructed.

Atemu shrugged into the tunic with a look of supreme distaste on his face. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

"Let's see what you've got, Santiago."

* * *

><p>Atemu dropped to the ground and spun, knocking Seto's feet out from under him. The pirate hit the floor with a grunt and when he opened his eyes, he found Atemu half straddling, half crouched across Seto's waist, the tip of Seto's sword pressed lightly over Seto's heart.<p>

Seto felt surprise and anger rising at being defeated, but he was also pleased with the kid's progress.

Atemu grunted, a slight grin spread across his face before he stood and backed away.

"Good, but you can do better." Seto said as he got to his feet.

* * *

><p>Atemu leaned his hip against a table, his hands braced on the sides as he took a moment to catch his breath.<p>

Seto gave the kid a moment to recuperate, taking that time to appreciate Atemu's body.

He had kept his tunic on, but over the course of the training period, the front of the tunic had come open to reveal smooth, well-sculpted muscle covered over by luscious copper-gold skin, the white bandages and black leather trousers the only things obscuring full view of the boy's well-sculpted body. Atemu's trousers hung low on his hips, revealing the arch of his hips and the full measure of his abdomen. Long, muscular legs were cupped to perfection by the material, leaving only the more interesting parts of the kid's body to the imagination.

For a moment, Seto gave in to the luxury of wondering how it would feel to have those legs wrapped around his waist; how those hips would nestle his own as he drove into Atemu's body with abandon. He could almost see the defiance in those scarlet eyes, the stark rebellion on his face even as Seto forced the boy to cry out in ultimate ecstasy.

Atemu's eyes suddenly locked on Seto's own cerulean ones, and he arched an eyebrow in inquiry.

"You ready to continue?" Seto asked.

"I don't know, captain. Are you in a condition to continue?"

Seto arched an eyebrow and dropped his eyes for a moment, inwardly flustered at being caught in the middle of his lewd thoughts.

Atemu let out a long-suffering sigh before straightening from the table and he sheathed his cutlass.

"We can continue tomorrow when you're not quite so indisposed." He said as he headed for the door.

Seto was dumbfounded at the boy's blaze attitude. He would've thought that he would be a bit more expressional than this.

Seto whirled and grabbed Atemu's wrist. The boy spun with an agitated look on his face as he faced the pirate, but that seemed to have been his mistake. Seto pulled the boy into his arms and crushed his mouth over Atemu's. When Atemu tried to push the pirate away, Seto grabbed the boy's hands and locked them at Atemu's sides.

Atemu felt overwhelmed by the emotions that swept through him at Seto's fierce kiss, if this devouring, possessive meeting of lips could even be classified as a kiss. He couldn't define what he felt. He could identify a few of the myriad of emotions; there was instinctive rage that was quickly drowned out by shock and then…what would one call that strange stirring in one's stomach, the slight quickening of one's heartbeat?

Seto pulled his head back a little, looking into Atemu's eyes for a moment. His eyes were darkening to crimson, but it wasn't from temper. He looked bewildered, but not repulsed. He leaned in again, sliding his lips over Atemu's.

He skimmed the tip of his tongue across Atemu's lips, coaxing the boy into a response. He heard Atemu suck in a breath and hesitantly he opened for Seto, the pirate didn't waste a second before he swept inside.

Atemu gasped at the feel of Seto's tongue touching his, exploring his mouth with an almost child-like curiosity. The first time Seto had stolen a kiss like this, Atemu had felt such rage and disgust well up inside, but this time it was different. This time, Atemu couldn't explain the intensity of that foreign emotion within. It was like Atemu had stuck his hand into a raging fire, and it burned him from the inside out…and he didn't want the fire to burn out.

With uncharacteristic timidity, Atemu met Seto's assault with his own, their kiss suddenly becoming a duel for dominance. Seto released Atemu's hands and instead of trying to push Seto away, Atemu pressed himself flush against Seto's frame and their hands were suddenly everywhere. Seto's left hand fisted in Atemu's hair and tugged the boy's head back. Atemu's breath came out harsh and rapid, his breath breezing across Seto's face as the pirate's mouth latched onto Atemu's throat. He sucked and licked and nipped the skin, eliciting slight breathy gasps.

Seto's right hand pushed the boy's tunic down off of his shoulders, his fingers grazing over smooth, heated skin, tracing the edge of his bandage that covered a wound that ultimately led to saving Seto's life. He slowly pushed Atemu back, and the boy grunted in surprise as the backs of his thighs hit the table. Seto dragged him up onto the table and began exploring, savoring the feel of Atemu's hands in his hair, his fingertips sending shots of pleasure coursing through Seto's body, and made his manhood swell even more.

Seto's tongue replaced his fingers as he continued to trace along the bandages, tasting the saltiness of Atemu's skin and savoring it, wondering if this would be the last time he'd get a chance to do this. His hands finished ridding Atemu of his tunic and tossed it to the ground, and then he skimmed over Atemu's leather clad thigh until he cupped Atemu in his palm.

The boy gasped in sudden pleasure. He kept waiting for the resulting repulsion that he had felt whenever Louis had taken the liberty of touching him. Granted the former prince turned king never got anywhere close to touching him the way Seto was, but even so all Atemu could think of was that it wasn't enough. He wanted more of everything.

Atemu's hands gripped the collar of Seto's tunic and he ripped it open. His eyes skimmed over the silky expanse of Seto's body, and marveled at the leashed power that was within. Atemu's index finger touched one of Seto's budded nipples, and at the pirate's encouraging groan, he leaned forward to give the bud a short lick before sucking it into his mouth. Seto tossed his head back at the feel of Atemu's hot, wet mouth on him, and he ground his palm into Atemu's arousal beneath the material of his trousers.

Seto undid the button on Atemu's waistband and lifted Atemu into his arms before he shoved the trousers down Atemu's hips and thighs and finally they too joined the pair's forgotten tunics on the ground. Seto stepped back to admire Atemu in his full glory.

Seto couldn't remember any before who looked half as delectable as Atemu.

Atemu was all lithe, sinewy muscle; there wasn't an inch of fat on him. His hair had been pulled back into a ponytail at the start of their practice duels, but from their previous play the cord had come undone and the tri-colored hair hung straight around the boy's shoulders. His exotic now-crimson eyes bore an intensity that could rival Seto's, an innumerable amount of emotions ranging from confusion and curiosity to full-blown arousal flitting across his sharp features.

Seto couldn't stand it anymore; a wave of possessiveness flooded him, screaming at him to claim Atemu as his own. He knew that Atemu hadn't had any lovers before, and he practically salivated at the prospect of Atemu being solely his.

Seto's mouth found Atemu's and they both threw everything they had into the kiss. Atemu's hands worked to strip Seto out of the rest of his clothes until they were both bear to the other, their sweat soaked bodies shimmering in the sunlight.

Seto was a magnificent creature, to be sure. He was tall and pure, corded muscle. His body was striped with a multitude of scars, old and new, all from his years as a man who had been cast out of his own country and left to fend for himself and his brother. Something within the pirate captain cried out to Atemu's spirit, like kindred souls finally meeting one another for the first time, two halves of the same whole. Atemu's left hand palmed Seto's manhood while his right hand gripped Seto's hair, holding him in place as the boy kissed Seto with a desperate fervor he hadn't known he possessed.

Seto's head spun at the pleasure of Atemu working his arousal. He gripped the pirate with enough force to make Seto arch into the touch, silently commanding for more, but not enough to injure him.

He rocked his hips lightly, the tip of Seto's manhood bumped into Atemu's, and they both groaned in pleasure. They ground into each other, searching for more of that incredible ecstasy, but it wasn't enough. They craved more.

Seto detached himself from Atemu, and he raised his free hand to Atemu's mouth before the boy sucked two of the pirate's fingers into his mouth. He sucked and licked and moistened them, all while his eyes remained locked on Seto's. The pirate almost moaned in anticipation.

Once he was satisfied, Seto pulled his fingers out and trailed the wet members down to Atemu's entrance.

Atemu jumped at the touch, but after the initial shock, he relaxed as Seto inserted one long finger into Atemu's body.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut as he ground his teeth at Seto penetrating him. It hurt, bad, but at the same time it was strangely erotic. As Seto slowly dragged the single moistened digit in and out, stretching the boy for what was to come, Seto's mouth peppered soft kisses along Atemu's forehead, cheeks, lips, throat, and shoulders.

"Shh, relax." He murmured into the boy's ear, and when Atemu obeyed, he slowly inserted a second finger, carefully scissoring the boy's entrance.

Atemu pressed his face into Seto's neck. His pained gasps practically tore from his throat into Seto's ear. After a moment, Atemu bit down on Seto's skin, at the crook of his neck. Seto hissed as pleasure jolted through him.

Seto's free hand wrapped around Atemu's arousal and began to pump in slow, firm strokes, trying to distract the boy from the pain of the preparation.

Atemu jerked and cried out in sudden pleasure as Seto's finger prodded Atemu's prostate.

"Do that again." He demanded breathlessly, and Seto smirked arrogantly before complying.

He suddenly had Atemu writhing in pleasure, gasping out his name and begging…well, that was a little presumptuous. Atemu wasn't begging to be filled; he was demanding to be filled. Seto usually wasn't the type of man to obey orders, but in this case he didn't mind at all. He pulled his fingers out and replaced them with his manhood.

The head of his arousal teased Atemu's entrance, and Atemu rocked his hips forward just as Seto thrust, both meeting halfway, forcing Seto's manhood to be swallowed up by Atemu's body.

The boy bit down on Seto's shoulder again, but he still let out a muffled cry, a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Seto stayed still, allowing Atemu to adjust to him before he slowly began to move.

Atemu's arms trembled as he tried to keep himself up on his hands and knees, but the assault of pleasure that racked his body made him feel weak.

While Seto was still firmly embedded inside Atemu, he turned Atemu onto his back, lying across the tabletop. The sight of Atemu, his face flushed beneath his tan, his eyes darkened to a deep crimson, his chest rising and falling with each panted breath and his soft moans and cries urged Seto on.

The pirate's control snapped, and he started pounding into Atemu with a renewed urgency. Seto searched for the perfect angle, and he knew the moment he hit Atemu's sweet spot. The boy's right hand shut up to cover his mouth and he bit down on his knuckle, all while his body arched up in silent demand for more of the same. Seto gladly complied, burying himself inside Atemu's tight, molten body again and again, moans of his own ripping from his throat as he neared release.

He began to pump at Atemu's arousal, and the boy bucked wildly against him, calling out Seto's name, even though it was fairly muffled by his hand.

Seto gave one final, sharp snap of his hips, burying himself deep inside Atemu's body before he threw his head back with a shout as he released inside Atemu. The boy's own cries mingled with Seto's, and the pirate felt Atemu's warm seed spilling across his hand.

Seto lowered his eyes to take in the sight of Atemu in the afterglow of his orgasm. He had twisted the upper half of his body, one arm flung out wide while the other continued to cover his mouth. The boy's eyes were half-lidded, and they were misted from ultimate pleasure, his breathing fast and shallow, his body covered in an extra layer of sweat. His hair was spread out beneath him, one foot propped up on the table while the other leg was wrapped around Seto's hips.

"That…was amazing." Atemu murmured, astounded that this was what sex felt like. He had been curious, but hadn't really felt the insistent craving that had been stirred up by Seto.

"Mm-hmm." Seto hummed as he felt himself slip out from Atemu's body, and he braced his hands on the table on either side of Atemu's waist to catch his breath. Once he was certain he could walk without his legs threatening to give out, he tugged Atemu to his feet and pulled the boy into his arms.

Seto couldn't understand the stirring within him. It was different from the one that had led to his physical arousal, and yet strangely, it seemed just as intimate.

"Come with me." He whispered into Atemu's ear, and a slight nod was his reply.

* * *

><p>Seto stiffened as he reached his climax, his shout muffled by Atemu's shoulder as he draped himself across the boy's body.<p>

It was strange to him. Seto was no stranger to sex before Atemu, he'd had quite a few lovers of both genders over the years…but none seemed to compare to Atemu.

Oh, sure, some of them were a bit more experienced and knew how to pleasure him in a way that the boy, who had been a virgin just four hours earlier, couldn't, but there was something different about Atemu that Seto couldn't understand.

Atemu grunted at the added weight of Seto pressing him against the mattress beneath their bodies, and he nudged the pirate with his shoulder in a silent request to get off so that he could breathe. Seto rolled to his side and lay there, looking over at Atemu while the boy struggled to get himself back under control.

Atemu had his eyes closed, his forehead pressed against the bed as he made an effort to take deep breaths. His body must be aching from the marathon they had, but he didn't seem to pay any mind to it.

Seto reached out and, with the back of his fingers, he brushed the blond strands of the boy's bangs away from his face to get a better look. Atemu opened one crimson eye to look over at him in askance.

There it was, that silent defiance that Seto knew would be there. Even though he had claimed Atemu six times that day, the boy continued to remind Seto that he could have his pleasure, but Atemu wouldn't let him take anything other than that.

Maybe that's what it was what made Seto think Atemu was unlike his previous lovers. Unlike them, who had practically thrown themselves at him, Atemu was making him work for what Seto wanted. He was stubborn, arrogant in his own right, and he was incredibly independent. The boy had the makings to become great. He was protective, possessive; he would put his life on the line to protect those he felt needed protecting. In a lot of ways, Atemu reminded Seto of himself when he had been Atemu's age.

Atemu's eyes closed again as exhaustion no doubt finally took its toll, and Seto reached out to pull the boy into his arms.

As he listened to the deep, even breathing of Atemu as the boy drifted off into unconsciousness, Seto couldn't help but feel anxious about what was to come.

In two days' time, they would arrive back in Spain, where Atemu would face off against the King of Spain himself in a move to rescue his little brother. He would be sacrificing himself, and Seto felt a twinge of agony as he felt this nagging feeling that something terrible would happen to Atemu.

He tightened his hold on the boy, wondering if that would be enough to keep the boy safe.

Seto vowed that he would go back with Atemu, knowing that Louis and Phillip would turn their attention toward Seto instead of Atemu…Seto shook his head to dispel those dismal thoughts.

It was too soon to worry about that sort of thing. There was still quite a ways to go before they got to Barcelona…it didn't do Seto any good to think about what _might_ happen when they get there.

Exhaustion finally pulled Seto into its clutches, and within moments, he joined Atemu in slumber.


	14. Chapter 13 Preparation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Kisara: Yeah, I know. I like to prolong the suspense. **

**AnzuFan: I'm glad you like it. Here's some more. ^_^**

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><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen – Preparation<strong>

Atemu wasn't satisfied with the way he was fighting. He noticed how sluggish his movements were in the beginning to compensate for getting used to the twinge of pain that shot from his shoulder. He had to do better. Yugi was in danger, and he was depending on Atemu to rescue him. Atemu couldn't afford those pain-laden moments to slow him down.

"Damn it!" He shouted as his grip loosened on his sword and the weapon fell from his hand. "Shit." He gripped his shoulder, berating himself for the intolerable slip up.

_Not good enough!_

Atemu had one more day to get ready before the Tide Whisperer reached Barcelona. One day to figure out how he was to keep the pain from causing distraction. He spun and kicked a chair which had the misfortune of being too close. It propelled across the room and slammed into the wall nearby, but it didn't do much to alleviate his rage.

Atemu Yamarai Santiago was a man who swore he would never allow another to defeat him. He had dueled against English pirates and had emerged with some inconsequential bruising and cuts. He had dove into shark-infested waters, slaughtered six hammerhead sharks all in time to rescue Seto and Mokuba before either of them could become attacked. He had fought, albeit with assistance, against seven drunkards in a bar and had come out with a knife wound, as compared to the seven very-dead men littering the ground at his feet.

He was the man who had escaped from the palm of Louis' hand and joined a pirate crew to protect his family from becoming ensnarled in Louis' schemes.

Now his brother was in danger, and by all the gods in the heavens, Atemu swore he would rescue Yugi.

For however long it takes to get Yugi to safety, Atemu would have to push past his pain. Afterward, if he lived or died, Atemu would know that at the very least Yugi was back where he belongs.

Atemu picked his sword up off the ground, tightened his grip, and waited for that thrumming numbness to take over. He raised his cutlass and lunged, meeting Seto's attack head-on.

* * *

><p>It was an hour after sunset when Seto finally called a stop to the day's practice. Atemu looked extremely opposed to the order, but the kid was exhausted, and he couldn't do much more than stand there slumped against the wall and glare at the pirate. Atemu slid down to sit on the floor, sucking in great gulps of oxygen, and he closed his eyes to calm himself down.<p>

He was a smart kid, and he knew that there were three essential parts to making a strong warrior; practice, getting enough sustenance, and plenty of rest. If he cancelled out the latter two in favor of increasing his focus on the former, then Atemu would become too exhausted to fight efficiently. A warrior must never have anything that could pose as a distraction, or it would be their death.

"Come on, kid." Seto coaxed and held out his hand to help Atemu to his feet, but the boy batted the pirate's hand away and pushed himself upright. He leaned against the wall for a moment to make sure that his legs wouldn't give out, and walked out of the room with Seto following close behind.

* * *

><p>Atemu couldn't comprehend how his body could ache so deeply. He felt as though every muscle was knotted so tightly that even the slightest movement made his body scream in protest, for him to remain still. He had somehow gotten through supper and had immediately gone down to the crew quarters afterward. He climbed into his hammock, completely ignoring the thin blanket draped across the bunk. He lay facedown, one leg dangling off the side of the hammock, his head turned to face the wall, and immediately began drifting off to sleep.<p>

He growled viciously when someone shook his uninjured shoulder in an attempt to rouse him. He turned his head toward the offensive bastard to find Seto hovering over him.

"What do you want?" He barked irritably. "If you've come for sex, you'll have to make do with your hand."

Seto narrowed his eyes and barred his teeth and Atemu's crude comment, but waved his temper away, reminding himself that Atemu had put in a grueling day of training.

"I need to take a look at your wound." He replied.

Atemu let out a sigh as he forced himself to get up out of his hammock. He followed Seto back to his cabin, and once inside, the pirate gestured for him to sit down on the edge of the bed.

Too exhausted to put up a fight, Atemu complied, leaning his elbows on his knees, his body arched slightly to make it easier for Seto to unravel the bandage.

In silence, Seto removed the soiled bandages and bloodied gauze before throwing them into the wastebasket. He grabbed a lantern and moved it to the nightstand to get a better view of the wound.

It looked raw and angry, dribbles of blood pooled over the gash and Seto had to wonder if it had become infected. The very last thing that they needed was for Atemu to come down with a fever.

Seto retrieved his medical supplies out of his trunk and immediately set to work. He wet a clean handkerchief and wiped the blood away, ground that hideous paste that Atemu would give his eyeteeth to do without. Seto added ginger root to the mixture that was ideal for stopping and reversing infection. Seto carefully began to spread the paste over and inside the wound. Atemu hissed ferociously, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles began turning white. Beneath his golden bangs, his eyes prickled from moisture. He brought one fist up and bit down on his knuckles to keep from screaming.

This concoction was the equivalent to the liquid fire Northern Europeans used to seer wounds closed. Seto had heard rumors that grown, brutish, mighty warrior men had broken down into hysterics under the liquid fire. Seto marveled at the boy's endurance.

Finally, Seto finished with the paste, placed a new square of gauze, and wrapped fresh bandages around Atemu's torso.

Even though he was finished, Atemu hadn't made a move to leave as Seto had thought he would.

"Hey." He called out, wondering if the boy had passed out from the pain of the treatment.

"Hmm…" Atemu dropped his hand from his mouth and let it fall into his lap, "Give me a minute." His voice sounded hoarse.

Seto cocked an eyebrow and then huffed out a breath before he sat down beside the boy.

"You do realize that tomorrow your cover is blown, right? The second Louis realizes he's got the wrong brother, he'll stop at nothing to get you back."

Atemu let out a bark of bitter laughter, "Motivational speaker you are not, captain." He raised his head to look Seto in the eye, his scarlet orbs glassy from unshed tears, "I know what I'm getting myself into."

"So, what do you plan on doing?" Seto questioned.

"I'm going to get Yugi out of Louis' hold and then I'll kill Louis. Nothing else matters, really, as long as Yugi's safe."

"You honestly think that?" Seto asked heatedly, "That you were born to play sword and shield for your brother?"

"I don't know."

Seto suddenly remembered how young the boy was. The uncertainty, the vulnerability, the confusion; it was all there, plan as day, on his face and in his eyes. He looked so lost, and in that moment, Seto's protective side surged violently.

But then Atemu blinked and it was gone, replaced by that numb arrogance that had become so familiar. It was almost heartbreaking to see such a passionate boy, one who has seen many horrors in his short life, become buried under that cold mask of acceptance.

"Now you listen, Santiago." Seto commanded, and Atemu turned to give him his full attention, "You were not born to become a sacrifice for your brother. Yeah, you can protect him all you like, but you will not walk off this ship tomorrow with your death clouding your judgment. Don't you dare think, even for a moment, that you're going to die tomorrow, or so help me, I will lock you in the brig."

Atemu's eyes widened at the vehemence of Seto's statement.

The pirate's cobalt eyes darkened to a midnight navy, and he was breathing as though he had run a great distance.

Atemu tried to think of a response, but his mouth simply opened and closed like a fish out of water.

"Promise me, Atemu. Promise me that when this is over, you and Yugi will come out alive."

Atemu was stunned…Seto had called him by his first name. Not kid, or cabin boy, or Santiago…but Atemu. The syllables rolled off of the pirate's tongue smooth and rich as molasses.

After a moment, Atemu recalled the initial request.

"I can't promise that I won't die, Seto. The first thing a warrior must accept is that they can very well meet their end any moment, and only after that can they reach their full potential. But I can promise I'll sure try my damnedest to survive."

Seto didn't know why, but Atemu's answer calmed him a little. He'd have to wait and see if Atemu kept his promise when the time comes to put it to the test.

He reached out and brushed a lock of crimson-tipped ebony out of Atemu's face before he slid closer and leaned in to give Atemu a short yet passion-filled kiss.

Seto tried to push Atemu down on the bed, but the boy pushed Seto away, rolled off the bed, and strode to the door, "I wasn't joking, captain. You want sex? Acquaintance yourself with your hand."


	15. Chapter 14 Homecoming

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**A/N: I know this chapter is a bit on the short side, but I'll compensate by updating two more chapters in a bit. ^_^**

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><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen – Homecoming<strong>

Yugi huddled into a ball on the floor of the frigid dungeon, shivering violently beneath his thin cream tunic and matching trousers. Yugi hoped to God this wasn't the same treatment Louis had dealt to Yami during his stay at the castle.

Two thick, titanium shackles encircled his ankles, and portable stalks bound his wrists together. He was so hungry, not having eaten since the morning he had been taken from the market. Oh, Yugi was given food, but it had only been a small bowl of cabbage soup, some moldy bread, and a glass of water. Yugi had drunk the water, knowing that it would be enough to keep him healthy for as long as he was to stay here, but he hadn't touched the food for fear that either it was poisoned or that he might become sick.

He wanted to go home, to lay in front of the hearth in his father's cottage with a plate full of food and some crisp, clean water. To hear his father's rumbling baritone as he murmured to himself while he worked in the shop adjacent to their home. He wanted to wrap himself in Yami's quilt, which faintly smelled of his brother's unique scent of pine, freshly watered meadows, and a twinge of cinnamon and citrus. To curl up in his own bed and sleep for a week.

And yet, even though things seemed so hopeless for him now, he knew that someday soon Yami would come and set him free. He could feel it in his heart that Yami would somehow learn of what had happened and he'd come racing to his side.

So, for now, Yugi could handle a few more days in this frozen prison. He could stand to go a bit longer with only mediocre water to sustain him. He could even stand the slight tingling numbness collecting in his fingertips. Because he knew that soon, Yami would burst through that door and he would take Yugi home.

* * *

><p>"All right men, listen up." Seto's voice boomed over the collected members of the White Dragons gathered up on the deck of the Tide Whisperer. "In less than one hour, we will be arriving in the Barcelonan harbor. I don't know how long it'll take for me to finish my business here, but it shouldn't take too long."<p>

_Business…? _If Atemu hadn't known how much Seto wanted to get his hands on Louis and Phillip, he would be greatly offended by how nonchalant he described Yugi's situation as simply "business".

"There is no reason for any of you to come ashore. Santiago knows this city well, and we will try and keep this brief."

"What exactly is this business you're talking about?" Malik asked curiously.

"We are here to pick up a weapon that I had commissioned the last time I were here." Seto replied.

"But then why is Atemu going with you? It seems to be a fairly simple task." Mokuba wondered.

"Santiago had been a blacksmith before he joined our crew. He knows weapons, and I'm going to make sure that I'm going to get my money's worth."

There were murmurs of acceptance.

"Anyone else have any questions?" Seto asked with a hint of threat underlying his comment.

Not surprisingly, nobody had anything more to say.

After a moment, Seto nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Once we dock, and the boy and I disembark, no one else is to leave the ship. You are to keep watch out for any officials that might try and attack us. I can't give you an estimate on how long we'll be here, but if anyone spots a threat, you are to get the Tide Whisperer out of the harbor and away from danger, whether or not I am on board."

There was a loaded silence before one by one the pirates nodded in acknowledgment with Mokuba and a green-haired youth named Noa being the last to give a response.

"Excellent."

* * *

><p>It was a little before dusk when the Tide Whisperer slid effortlessly through the Barcelonan harbor. Seto kept the ship anchored away from the docks in case the crew needed to make a quick escape. He then ordered the sails to be rolled and the flag to be lowered. Usually the White Dragons flew their banner proudly, but in this case, they didn't need the added threat of being recognized.<p>

Seto and Atemu walked down to the captain's cabin and they decided to wait until nightfall before heading out. Atemu would rather they left immediately, but he also saw the logic in Seto's decision. In the meantime, Seto checked Atemu's wound to make sure it would hold for the time being, and made sure that they were both well armed.

Seto strapped two cutlasses to his body, one on his hip and the other slung across his back. Two pistols were holstered at his waist. He slid his dagger into his right boot and a bound a palm knife to his left wrist. Atemu settled for one cutlass and one pistol, both he fastened around his waist. He slid his signature dirk into his waistband between his belt and his trousers beneath his tunic, and he slipped a stiletto into his left boot for good measure.

"You remember your promise. Atemu? Don't go getting yourself killed or I swear, I will drag you back from the afterlife only so that I can kill you myself." Seto warned.

Atemu smirked, "I remember, don't worry about little ole me." His smirk faded before he regarded the pirate solemnly, "Now, I'm going to have you make me the same promise, Seto. Don't get yourself killed."

Seto tugged Atemu into his arms and planted a feverish kiss to Atemu's lips. They shared in the kiss for a moment before Seto pulled back and nodded, "I promise."

Atemu looked out the small manhole in the cabin to see that it was well after dark.

"It's time."


	16. Chapter 15 Arrested

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Dedications: This is to S2Teennovelist, just because I can. ^_~ You'll know why, Teenie. **

**Enjoy! Review! **

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><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen – Arrested<strong>

Seto and Atemu stepped out of the lifeboat that they used to get to shore and tied it off at the docks. Although it was dark, people were still bustling about trying to wrap things up before heading home for the night. The two pirates wore long cloaks, Seto's black, Atemu's burgundy, to hide their weapons from the public eye. They moved like phantoms up the street, and they came to a corral where an older man was busy trying to bring in the pigs.

Atemu came up alongside the fence of the pig pasture and whistled for the man's attention.

"You've got any horses we could buy off of you, good sir?" He called out, much to Seto's amusement. He thought it strange that Atemu had such homeboy manners.

"Horses? Yeah, I've got them, but I don't think you could afford them." The man replied in a gruff tenor, laced with a prominent Spanish accent.

"Let me be the judge of that, good sir." Atemu replied, "Let me see."

The man mumbled something under his breath about wasted time, but obeyed Atemu's command and led the two pirates to the horse barn.

There were two fine horses that fit Atemu's interests, a sixteen-hand-tall medium bay gelding and a sixteen-hand-tall pale chestnut mare.

"Those two will do." Atemu commented, sounding bored. "How much do you want for them?"

"For those two, seventy-five pieces of silver."

"Ah, no. How about thirty-five."

"Ha!" The old man barked, "Fifty-five."

"Forty-five and not a shilling more." Atemu drew out a small, silk pouch from inside his cloak, tossed it slightly into the air before catching it in his palm. The coins inside jingled together, and the man's chocolate eyes were glued to the pouch immediately.

He stuck out his hand, "Done."

Atemu shook on forty-five and then continued, "An extra five pieces of silver for the horses' tack."

"Fine." The man was practically salivating over Atemu's money.

"Saddle them up, good sir, and this is all yours." Atemu coaxed.

The older man quickly complied, and when he was finished, Atemu dropped the pouch into the man's grimy hands, "Pleasure doing business with you."

* * *

><p>Atemu hated waiting.<p>

Seto had called a halt at a seedy tavern called O'Leary's. He insisted that they get a few hours of rest to recharge before they went on ahead. Obviously, with Atemu so close to Yugi, the boy put up one hell of a fight, but Seto's damnable logic won out as he pointed out that Yugi would be in just as much danger a few hours from now as he was right then, and that if they charged in half-cocked, all they would achieve is getting themselves killed.

Both were hungry, both felt a bit drowsy, and both knew that going up against Louis and his guards required a solid plan. Anything else was plain suicide.

So instead, they rented a room above the tavern to rest up for a bit before continuing.

* * *

><p>"Every one of the king's guards wears armor that I made personally. There is one flaw in each of piece man's breastplate where if you hit it with just the right amount of force in the correct spot, it would shatter the armor and would leave their abdomen vulnerable to injury."<p>

"And you deliberately gave each suit of armor such a glaring flaw because…?" Seto questioned.

"Just in case." Atemu shrugged and waved a hand dismissively, "But that's beside the point."

"Not really. I'm curious as to why a blacksmith would do something like that, and threaten their reputation purposefully." Seto cut the boy off.

Atemu groaned, exasperated, "I had a hunch that it would be needed one day."

"A hunch?"

"You're certainly a wealth of confidence." Atemu commented drily.

"I'm trying to figure out what goes on inside that head of yours."

"At times, I get these…feelings…that something bad is about to happen. That's why I asked Mahado to teach me how to fight, why I spent my apprenticeship as a blacksmith…how I knew you would come and release me from my prison."

Seto looked as though Atemu had just sprouted a second head.

"Well, you asked." Atemu snapped.

Seto blinked, "I'm sorry. I'm still waiting for the punch line."

Atemu punched Seto in the arm, hard, and Seto growled at the sting of the blow.

"Moving on," Atemu prompted, "So, getting through the soldiers won't be a problem. I made it so that fifty-five pounds of pressure would break the armor. If you used the pommel of your blades or even a bullet, it would cave and not only would the weapon that was used to break the armor injury the soldier, but the steel would fold back into the soldier's body and shred their spleen." Atemu pointed to a spot to the right of his navel to show where this weak spot was.

"Well now that that's settled." Seto continued, "I memorized the layout of both the upper bailey and the perimeter around the palace and I familiarized myself with it the last time I had been there. There's a passage hidden inside the garden located in the front courtyard. The escape hatch is concealed beneath a hedge that had been cut into the shape of a tiger. That hatch leads to an underground labyrinth that branches out in five directions." Seto pulled out a piece of stationery and began to draw as he spoke, "The first path, here, leads to the forest beyond the lower bailey. The second path goes to the buttery, the third to the grand ballroom, the fourth goes to the royal suite, and the fifth leads to the dungeons."

Seto took a moment to illustrate each path, roughly showing how the labyrinth is constructed.

"Now, if I were Louis," Atemu shivered at the thought, but Seto ignored that and continued, "Since his first boy toy was taken, he'd put Yugi somewhere less accessible to anyone. That leaves us with two options, the royal suite and the dungeon.

"In my case, if I had a courtier that had recently been taken, I'd put Yugi closer to the royal suite so that I could keep a close eye on him, and the various guards within the royal wing of the palace would help. Then again, the dungeons are fairly secretive as well, and not very many people know how to get to them without former knowledge, so it too would be ideal to keeping intruders away from Yugi."

Each time Seto associated Yugi with Louis, Atemu's rage built a little higher until it was almost unbearable. The only way he kept it reined in was that he knew Seto only talked that way to get inside Louis' head.

"Louis would go for the safer route. He knows that last time the intruder theoretically killed the prince's boy toy, and so he'd want Yugi secure, but far enough away from his chambers so that nobody could turn their attention to him if they somehow got to Yugi." Seto tapped the tip of his quill to the square that represented the dungeons at the end of the fifth trail, "So this is where Yugi is. We'll leave the horses tied up out inside the forest, and we'll retrace our steps from the dungeon back to the first path to get outside the castle boundary."

"So then we'll take Yugi back to my father's cottage and then return after my brother is safe to finish Louis and Phillip." Atemu added, and Seto nodded.

* * *

><p>Seto and Atemu slept for three hours. When they awoke, the saddled their horses, mounted up, and rode out toward the looming structure of the castle silhouetted beneath the light of the waxing third-quarter moon. They tied off their mounts a half mile out into the forest and continued on foot. They had left their cloaks in the horses' saddlebags so that they wouldn't get in their way when the time came for them to fight. Both men were dressed in dark clothing, and both were near to impossible to see in the dark unless one knew exactly where to look.<p>

* * *

><p>The security around the upper bailey had increased dramatically.<p>

Seto and Atemu were laid prone along the ground, effectively shielded from sight by a pasture of towering wheat grass as they took in the scene before them.

Seven guards were in each tower, two more paced along the wall between the northern and western towers, and it would stand to reason that the other towers had the same setup. Nineteen more soldiers were patrolling the perimeter on the ground, and two more were stationed on either side of the lowered drawbridge on either side of the moat.

"I'm impressed." Seto murmured, "Louis has more brains than I'd originally thought."

Atemu nodded in agreement, but didn't verbally reply as he continued to study the situation.

He counted each man's steps, recorded how long one man took to make a full circuit. He minded the fact that each man bore a sword and a pistol, and they all wore his armor.

"Seto, do you know how to get up to the towers?" Atemu whispered.

"There're several grottoes made into the base of the wall inside the moat, each have ten titanium bars blocking the entrance inside, and they bury four inches into the brick and seven inches into the ground. But the fourth grotto on the eastern side of the wall has two bars that have come loose. I can't fit through the space, but you might be able to."

"All right." Atemu acknowledged before removing the belt the housed his sheathed cutlass and holstered pistol. "The mode of each circuit is a minute and four seconds, with the range between fifty-eight seconds and two minutes twenty-three seconds." Atemu mumbled, "Four men are bow-legged, one has a disabled left arm, two have prominent limps. Louis might've had the right idea on increasing the security, but he stocked up on the majority of cripples." He then cocked his head toward one of the men up on the wall, "That man's blind in his right eye and the other is so finicky that it would be simple to get past them."

"Fine then." Seto replied, cataloging the boy's observations for his own benefit, and watched as Atemu slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and moved into a crouch. He was still obscured from the guards' sight by the wheat grass.

Just as one man turned the corner, Atemu lurched into a sprint, keeping low, and he slid into the trench of the moat just as a second man rounded the corner. Seto held his breath as the man approached Atemu's hideaway, and let it out as the man passed the boy. The boy jumped up out of the trench, grabbing the soldier from behind, one hand clamped around the man's mouth while the other slit the guard's throat with his dirk. Atemu dragged the dead soldier into the water of the moat and continued on.

When the next man came around the corner, Atemu didn't even bother to hide. He lunged for the man, again one hand covering the guard's mouth an he nearly decapitated the man. Atemu led that dead man into the water to join his equally deceased companion, and finally Atemu disappeared behind the corner of the tower.

* * *

><p>His heart pounded as his adrenaline spiked. The feeling of his blade sinking deep into warm flesh, the heat of their freshly drawn blood as it trailed down across the backs of his fingers, hearing the strangled gasp of their final breaths before he saw the light fade from their eyes as death gripped them tight and dragged them to hell.<p>

It was borderline climactic.

Atemu barred his teeth in some semblance of a smile as he continued to span the perimeter of the wall. These men kept Atemu away from Yugi; for that they all deserved to die.

Before Atemu could be pulled down into that frigid half-insanity he knew would _love_ to come out and play, he had to focus solely on Yugi. It wouldn't do for his little brother to see him as the malevolent demon that Atemu had become, and with that knowledge, he held on to the last shreds of his conscience.

Following Seto's instructions, Atemu slid into the trench of the moat once he got around to the eastern side of the wall. He took several deep breaths before he dove down into the pungent, humid water and searched for the grotto that Seto had told him about. He had to come up for air once before he finally found the grotto. He pulled the bars out of their settings and squeezed through the space, needing to turn his shoulders diagonally for him to fit. Once on the other side, Atemu cautiously peered out of the water to make sure that there weren't any guard around. It would seem that Seto and Atemu had been wrong about Louis' intelligence.

The prince-turned-king had been wise to pump up on his guards, but he had stationed them all on the outside of the upper bailey. Only two guards were on the inside, and they were flanking the inside of the drawbridge, too far away to see Atemu.

The boy pulled himself out of the putrid water and made for the stairwell up to the tower.

There were only three guards in this tower, and it didn't take much time at all for Atemu to take care of them. He grabbed a long coil of rope and started across the wall. He slid his dirk into the soft flesh of one guard's underarm, directing the blade to the man's heart. He hadn't even seen his death coming before it had already been too late.

He continued on, and the second guard was killed just as quickly as the first, the last thing the soldier saw as Atemu drew a line across his throat were Atemu's cold, crimson eyes, blank expression, and malicious grin.

Atemu gently guided the dead man's body to the floor. He was too close to the northern tower for the boy to allow the armor to clatter and give away his position. Atemu tossed the rope over the side once he saw the coast was clear, and he watched as Seto sprinted toward the wall and grabbed hold on the other end of the rope.

Atemu slowly pulled Seto up the wall. He had to pause for a moment when one of the guards had come around the tower and walked directly beneath Seto. As the guard moved on, Atemu breathed a sigh of relief and then continued to pull Seto up until he touched down on the wall.

"Nice work." Seto commented, "Let's go."

The two ran back toward the eastern guard tower and down the stairwell before racing across the courtyard toward the garden. They slid beneath the tiger hedge and were safely hidden beneath the ground without even once getting caught.

"This way." Seto instructed as he pulled a torch from its holder and started down the fifth path leading to the dungeon.

* * *

><p>Yugi coughed throatily into his bound wrists and tried yet again to get as much warmth as possible. It was difficult when one didn't have free rein of one's arms, but he had to make the best of what he had.<p>

He moaned miserably, but comforted himself by thinking that Yami would soon come. Then he could go home, have a hearty meal, and a long, good night's sleep. Yugi closed his eyes and somehow managed to drift off into a fretful slumber.

He thought he was dreaming as he opened his eyes at the sound of brick scraping noisily against brick. He looked to the source of the sound and watched as four of the bricks were pushed out of the wall and moved to the side, and a tall, strange man climbed through the hole that it made, followed close behind a slightly shorter and far more familiar man.

"Yami?" He called out, blinking several times to make sure that he really was awake. A brilliant, joyous expression lit up his cherubic face, "It's really you!"

"Hush Yugi." Yami gently reprimanded, "Yes, it's me. We'll have you out of here in no time."

Yugi nodded enthusiastically as the stranger came forward to pick the lock on the door to Yugi's cell. He had just barely gotten the door open when Yami rushed inside, pulled Yugi to his feet, and held the boy in his arms.

Yugi burrowed his face into Yami's tunic, breathing in his brother's scent, and he knew then and there that he was safe.

Yami pulled back and ran his hands over Yugi's face, shoulders, his arms, searching for any injury. When he got to the stalks, he drew his dirk and snapped the lock open before tossed the block of wood aside.

"Are you hurt? Did Louis touch you in any way?" Yami demanded worriedly.

"No, he didn't." The relief on Yami's face was tangible.

"Come on, we don't have much time." The stranger spoke with a grumbled baritone, and Yami nodded agreement.

He hefted Yugi into his arms, the boy wrapped his legs around Yami's waist and wound his arms around his neck, and the stranger led the way back through the hole without bothering to replace the brick.

* * *

><p>They had just reached the front of the labyrinth when Seto heard something coming from up ahead. He's pushed Atemu back into a dead end and leveled his cobalt eyes to Atemu's crimson.<p>

"Somebody's coming. I don't know how many, but I'll go find out. Stay here and if anything goes wrong, get yourself out."

"Seto-"

"No arguments." He hissed, and then he nodded his head toward Yugi, "He's your first priority. Remember the plan. Get him to safety and then you can return. Am I being clear?"

Atemu narrowed his eyes at Seto, "Perfectly."

"Whatever you do, get Yugi out of here, cabin boy."

Without waiting for a response, Seto turned on his heel and started back toward the mouth of the labyrinth alone.

He found seven royal guards blocking his path, each with their pistols drawn, cocked, and pointed directly at Seto.

He briefly considered the possibility of getting out of this alive if he retaliated, but his thoughts were cut short when he felt the cold metal of a pistol press between his shoulder blades.

"Drop your weapons, Leandro." A nauseatingly familiar voice commanded.

"Louis." Seto said, "It's been quite some time. How is your darling father these days? How about those charming brothers of yours? Oh, and when have you developed the taste for kidnapping young boys against their wills to become your little pleasure slaves? Doesn't your lovely wife keep you company well enough?"

The barrel pressed further into Seto's back threateningly, "Perhaps you hadn't heard me correctly? I said, "Drop your weapons." Or has all those years out on the sea erased your understanding of royal dialect when my father exiled you and that bastard brother of yours?"

"Don't speak ill of my brother, guttersnipe." Seto snapped.

While Louis had his distracted, one of the guards had come forward and forcibly disarmed Seto, and then for good measure patted the pirate down for extra weapons and found his dagger and palm knife hidden in his clothes.

"In the name of King Louis I of the house of Bourbon, you are under arrest for piracy, murder, blasphemy against the royal crown, and thievery of the King's possessions."

Seto ground his teeth at the implied insult to Atemu and his brother, but before he could so anything, he felt the cold clasp of metal snap around his wrists.

"Take him." Louis ordered, "And prepare him for questioning."

"As you say, sir."


	17. Chapter 16 Sentence

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Enjoy! Review! **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Sixteen – Sentence<strong>

Atemu raced through the winding pathways within the labyrinth as he made his way toward the escape hatch out in the forest. He retraced his steps, found where Seto and Atemu had left the horses tied to a thin, deeply bowed sycamore tree. He untied them, put Yugi up on the gelding and Atemu mounted the mare. Yugi goaded the gelding into a steady gallop with Atemu trailing behind to keep an eye out for any enemies who might be following.

After they were certain nobody was after them, Atemu called a halt and he turned his mount to face the ever-lightening castle in the distance.

He could hear his heart pumping in his ears, could feel his palms going damp as he tightened his grip on the reins. He wanted to forget what he had heard back in the tunnels. To find out that he had misunderstood what had gone on between Seto, the guards, and Louis. He kept waiting to see Seto's silhouette come into view, even though Atemu knew better. His senses were sharper than any other, and he _felt_ that Seto was in danger.

_If anything happens to him…it'll be my fault. _

Atemu growled at that thought, berating himself. He finally turned away from the castle and continued on with the gelding cantering alongside Atemu's mare, heading in the direction of their father's cottage.

"_No matter what happens, get Yugi out safely, cabin boy." _

Atemu didn't like how Seto had pulled rank on him, but he realized that Atemu could do nothing with Yugi around to worry about. He'd take Yugi home and he'd go back to the Whisperer to get help, and then they'd come back for Seto.

_Hang in there, Seto. You promised!_

* * *

><p>Seto stood tall and proud as he was led into the spacious interrogation room. He kept his expression arrogant even as the guards bound his wrists to the wooden post in the center of the room that was only as tall as his hip. He grinned roguishly at the burly executioner as the masked man came up behind him with a coiled, nine headed leather whip in hand.<p>

Louis sat high up on a raised dais, seated on a luxurious throne made from the finest maple wood, adorned with royal violet cushion, a coated with a double layer of lacquer to give it a remarkable shine beneath the light of the various candelabras in the room. Louis, himself, looked very much like a plum holiday boar, decked out in gold and burgundy robes, his crown seated mockingly atop his head, and a pathetically smug grin split his face.

If Louis honestly thought that he could make Seto flinch in envy as Louis flaunted his new status as King of Spain to the man who originally should have held that title, then he was in for one major disappointment.

"Seto Leandro," Louis began, "I have the power to have you executed as well as the power to set you free. After all, I am a reasonable man, and I know how to negotiate a fair trade, if you will. However, this bargain revolves around that young man you stole from me a little over a month ago, Yamir Rodriguez."

Seto cocked an eyebrow, "I can't give you what I don't have, Louis. Yamir Rodriguez is dead."

"No, Leandro, he's not. I know for a fact that he is alive and well. The miniature runt that stayed here for the whole of last week, his brother was seen in a tavern on the Pirate Haven seaport of Sale` in Africa. With you."

"The kid? You've got the wrong guy. That's my cabin boy, Atemu Santiago. So, I'll say it again, I can't give you what I don't have."

Louis gestured imperiously, and the executioner lay ten strikes across Seto's back. Seto ground his teeth hard enough to chip a tooth, but he refused to give this bastard the satisfaction of seeing him acknowledge his pain verbally.

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Louis commented silkily. "All you have to do is tell me where Yamir is and I will let you go." You can sail off in your puny ship and I won't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Read my lips, Louis." Seto growled, "Yamir is _dead_."

"I grow tired of this cat and mouse game you insist on playing with me, Leandro." Louis' blaze tone slowly turned into frustration.

Five more lashes, and Louis rose from his throne, "Tell me where he is."

"You want to know where he is? He's floundering at the bottom of the ocean." Seto snapped, and a malicious smile pulled at his lips, "But I can tell you what you missed out on. Yamir was a _delicious_, feisty creature. He fought me tooth and nail, shouting at the top of his lungs before he started screaming. _God_, he was so tight and hot, and I devoured him. Do you know how exhilarating it was to listen as his screams turned to begging? By the time I was done with him, I couldn't get the kid off of me. I took him onto my ship and had my fill of him all night long, and then I slit his throat and cast him overboard. See, he was fun while he lasted, but he was a bit too clingy for my tastes. Sorry to have made you go without, but you see, I was man enough to take what you never could!"

Louis' face drew together like thunderclouds as he snapped, "Whip him until there's no more skin on his back!"

The executioner delivered fifty-five more lashes before his arm got thrown out at the ferocity of the strokes.

Louis sneered at Seto's crumpled form as he slumped against the post, "I will see your head roll, Leandro! Mark my words, you'll not see the light of another day!" He screamed. "Get this trash out of my sight."

Two of the royal guards dragged Seto out of the interrogation room and to the dungeons. They locked him up in the same cell they had just broke Yugi out of. The bound him with shackles around his ankles, and fastened the pirate's arms above his head and they left him there in that position.

Seto growled as the cold, coarse rock ground into his ravaged back, but that pain was nothing compared to the shame brought on by the horrid image he had painted of Yamir's "death".


	18. Chapter 17 Trepidation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seventeen – Trepidation<strong>

Atemu and Yugi cautiously navigated through the backstreets of their village toward their father's cottage, keeping to the shadows as best as they could while approaching the main avenue. The closer they came to the main avenue, Atemu could see a large crowd bustling, and with every stride of the brothers' mounts, more sounds drifted to their ears.

Atemu stopped in a shadowy side street as a booming tenor voice rose above the furor of the crowd, and immediately he felt his heart drop and his rage stir, as he understood the nature of the crowd's presence.

"As commanded by King Louis of the House of Bourbon, a capital criminal, as well as an amoral pirate, has been sentenced to death by beheading in the courtyard of the Montjuic Fortress at four this afternoon. All those who wish to bear witness to this demon's death is welcome to-"

Atemu could feel the rage rise, like a separate entity, deep inside his soul, and it hungered for him to act, to bathe in these fools' blood and dine on their pleads for mercy. He forced it all back, needing to conserve that anger for when he goes back to face Louis.

Unable to hear anymore without risk of losing control, he turned his head toward Yugi, who sat upon the bay gelding with uncertainty and a selfless concern for Seto, whom the boy only knew as the man who had helped Atemu free Yugi from his prison and gave himself up to help them escape.

"Yugi," Atemu spoke quietly, not trusting his voice to stay civil should he speak any louder, "Go home." He ordered.

"But wha-"

"I haven't the time for debate, Yugi. Just do as I say." Atemu replied, cutting off the boy's protest.

Before Yugi could object or acknowledge his older brother's command, Atemu turned his mare and coaxed her into a steady trot back up the streets from where they had come, heading back toward the border.

As he past the boundary of the village, Atemu pushed the mare into a full out run, rushing as fast as he could toward the harbor.

_Nine hours…Seto, hold on!_

* * *

><p>Yugi couldn't remember the last time he had seen Yami look so furious, and he never thought in his life that he would ever feel intimidated of his brother…but he definitely felt uneasy when Yami turned his steadily darkening crimson eyes in the boy's direction.<p>

He sighed, feeling guilty for thinking that way, and he pushed those disconcerting thoughts out of his mind as he nudged the gelding around the corner of the main avenue and up the street toward his father's modest cottage not too far off.

He pulled the horse to a halt once he past the property line and dismounted. He had just touched the ground when the front door of the cottage was flung open and both Yugi's father and Mahado stood awestricken in the doorway.

"Yugi?" Akunumkanon murmured in quiet disbelief.

"It's me, father." Yugi called out to reassure them.

Akunumkanon rushed down the steps of the porch and pulled Yugi into his arms in stark relief. "Oh, my son. I'd thought I lost you as well." He whispered into Yugi's hair as he held the boy tightly, pulling him off of the ground.

"Of course not." Yugi replied.

Mahado joined the pair, "How…?"

"Yami came for me."

Yugi wasn't prepared for the supreme terror that filled Mahado's eyes, "What? Yamir…he's not…he can't be back…No!" Mahado stammered, trying to grasp the situation, but he hoped to God that he had misheard. "He's not supposed to return!"

* * *

><p>Some of the White Dragons were on the deck, including Mokuba, when Atemu jumped over the slightly raised wall of the deck. Once the teenaged first mate looked in Atemu direction, the boy nodded with his head toward the door leading below deck toward the living quarters, and then he went straight toward Seto's cabin. Mokuba entered a few minutes later, looking both worried and irritated.<p>

"Explain yourself, Atemu. Where is Seto?" Mokuba demanded.

"We ran into trouble while in the village waiting for Seto's weapon to be finished. One of the royal guards recognized him as the White Dragons captain and they arrested him. Seto made me stay away so that I wouldn't get caught as well, and now he's in serious trouble. At four this afternoon, Seto is scheduled for execution. We've got eight seven hours to come up with a plan."

Mokuba looked furious, "You left him to be taken by those bastards?"

"Seto is my captain, I simply obeyed orders, Mokuba." Atemu reasoned wisely.

Mokuba couldn't argue with that, but still, "All right, do you have any ideas on what to do?"

"Glad you asked."

* * *

><p>Mahado brought the borrowed gelding to a screeching halt, the horse's hooves sliding across the slick wood of the dock before he jumped off of the horse's back and he scanned the horizon, frowning intently at seeing the Tide Whisperer anchored out and away from the docks. The sight infuriated him.<p>

_Damn you, Seto! You were supposed to keep Yamir away from Spain._

Mahado spotted a small lifeboat still tied to the dock. He got inside the boat and rowed out toward the ship, intending on giving the pirate captain a piece of his mind.

* * *

><p>Mokuba's eyebrows knitted together as he considered Atemu's plan. It was a sound plan…although it was borderline suicidal…and Mokuba was having a difficult time trying to convince himself that there must be some other, not so dangerous, way of rescuing Seto.<p>

Atemu allowed the boy to consider things, but he mentally counted down to the second how much longer Seto had to live, and he knew that there wasn't enough time for this.

"Look, I know I'm asking a lot from you all, but this is your captain, your older brother, and you must take every measure to ensure that he is kept alive. We're pirates, we're supposed to do foolish things like this on a daily basis."

"If we wanted to be technical, Seto would want us to leave him where he is." Mokuba muttered, frowning at the imaginings those words conjured.

"True, but that doesn't mean that we're going to leave Seto in Louis' hands."

Of all the people Atemu believed would understand his need to save Seto it would be Mokuba.

Honestly, Atemu hated to ask Mokuba or any one else to do something like this, but even Atemu knew that he didn't stand a chance against Louis and his guards on his own. He was a strategist and a warrior, but Atemu knew his limits. He needed Mokuba and the others to rescue Seto.

"Fine, I'll do as you say, but I warn you, if any of them get so much as a scratch, or if this outrageous plan of yours isn't enough to rescue Seto, I'll kill you where you stand, Santiago."

"I wouldn't expect you to do anything less. In fact, if this plan fails, I will personally offer my life as penance."

"I'll hold you to that."

* * *

><p>Atemu strode back out onto the deck, his head pounding with the overload of thoughts, worries, and the rage that still insisted on slipping its leash.<p>

Leaning back against the wall of the galley, Atemu took a long look out toward the ocean as it sparkled like a thousand amber diamonds from the sun upon the water's surface. The cool, gentle breeze filtered through his hair, cooling his feverish skin, and was slight comfort to him.

_I'll save you, Seto…just wait for me._

"Yamir…" A strangled, familiar voice called out Atemu's original name, and he whirled to face Mahado.

He felt somewhat relieved that it was his older cousin for some reason he couldn't quite understand just then.

"Mahado." He replied with warmth in his voice, and then the significance of the older man's presence struck Atemu, "Why are you here?"

"I should be asking you that, Yami." Mahado crossed the distance between them to stand before Atemu.

"What do you mean? You know why. I came to rescue Yugi from Louis."

"And how, exactly, did you come to know of Yugi's situation?" Mahado asked, deceptively calm, and a dreadful unease rose within Atemu.

"You told me."

"No." The older man replied, his words falling heavy as stones. "I didn't."


	19. Chapter 18 Guilt

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Warning: Blood, gore. **

**Enjoy! Review!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eighteen – Guilt<strong>

Atemu couldn't believe what he had just heard, "But you…but then…" he stammered, trying to make sense of what Mahado had just told him. "If you didn't send me that telegram then who did?" He demanded in a steadier voice.

"What telegram?" Mahado asked, trying to understand.

Atemu pivoted and brought his right hand up to wrap his fingers around his chin in a completive gesture, his index finger resting just below the bow of his lower lip. His eyes moved from side to side as if he were seeing something no one else could. Finally, the boy dropped his hand and sighed, "I guess that doesn't matter now." He said wearily.

"Where is the captain?"

Atemu slanted his scarlet eyes in Mahado's direction; "He's with Louis right now. See, while he and I went in to rescue Yugi, we were cut off by Louis and his guards, and he took the fall." He explained, his voice rising as his rage at the situation.

He certainly wasn't sorry for rescuing Yugi, but he was disturbed by the fact that some unknown person had lured him here.

"He did what?"

"Look, Mahado, I'd love to stick around and reminisce with you, but I don't have the time." He pushed past the older man as he saw Mokuba step out onto the deck, looking unsettled but he nodded to Atemu to signal they were ready to move.

* * *

><p>Mahado didn't like seeing his young cousin with such a strange look in his eyes…it was like a mixture of an enraged human and an amused demon all mixed into one set of eyes. However, he had seen the steadfast expression on his face before, and it called out for Mahado to do something, anything, to erase that ancient expression from the boy's features.<p>

"Could I be of any help in rescuing the captain?" He offered.

Honestly, the genuine surprise that his request triggered in the boy wounded Mahado deeply. Why would he be shocked that Mahado would want to help? They were family, after all, and in spite of his initial reaction to Atemu's presence in Spain, Mahado would do anything to help his cousin.

Atemu's shock changed to contemplation as he finally turned to face Mahado, "Maybe you'd like to know what I plan to do before you offer your life?" Atemu asked, "After all, it may very well cost us all of our lives."

"It wouldn't matter. I won't let you do this alone, Yami." Mahado vowed solemnly.

"Fine then." Atemu turned back to the raven-haired teenager who was walking toward them, "You ready?"

The lad nodded, and Atemu smiled wanly, "Then we ride."

* * *

><p>Seto wished he had the use of his legs, if only just so that he could pace the floor. All of this waiting around, stuck in this uncomfortably immobile position, was making unpleasant thoughts torment him even more. He had to move, to do something. Maybe if he hit his head hard enough on the brick behind him, it would knock him out cold and he could be set free of this mental torment for a few hours? Or perhaps he'd be forced to have nightmares instead and couldn't wake up?<p>

Awake or asleep, Seto couldn't escape those graphic images of the supposed rape and murder of Yamir Rodriguez.

Seto knew what had really happened the night Atemu…or Yamir really, had helped Seto break him free of his gilded cage. How courageous and noble and strong Yamir had been. All of his memories with Atemu…the playful bantering, all of the unnecessary jobs he had made Atemu do, the few moments of weakness when Atemu had let down his guard enough for him to see the real man beneath that mask of calm arrogance, or worse the look of jaded acceptance.

Their night of passion…the few shared kisses that they had indulged in. Seto realized that he and Atemu had only known each other for two months, but there was a connection between them, something that Seto never could have imagined was possible for him to experience had bonded them together so completely that…just the mere thought of the abominable scene he had conjured to get Louis to quit with his relentless line of questioning…to even think for a moment that Atemu may have had to suffer that gruesome fate at some point…to twist the memories of Atemu's and Seto's passion into something like _that _was too much for Seto to bear.

He almost wished for Louis to take his head. He would never be able to forgive himself for corrupting something so precious into something so vile…

_Atemu wouldn't want you to feel this way…_ Some small part of him protested, but it was quickly driven away by Seto's overwhelming guilt.

_I don't deserve to feel this way about you, Atemu…not when I'm capable of seeing myself do those things to him…damn it! _

Seto jerked his head up when he heard the door to the dungeon creak open, and three royal guards strode in through the doorway toward Seto's cell, "Say your prayers." One warned as he unlocked the door and walked inside the cell.

He released Seto's arms first. Being held for eleven hours above his head had left them feeling numb and useless, and he couldn't resist them as the guard shackled him with a set of portable wooden stalks. They undid the shackles around Seto's ankles and hauled the pirate upright.

Two of the guards restrained an arm each, just to be sure that Seto wouldn't pull anything, while the third guard led the way back out of the dungeon and to a rugged, pathetic looking oak coach.

They hurried Seto inside, the lead guard went up to the driver's seat on the wagon, and once the other two guards were situated on the rear stoop on the coach, the driver snapped his whip in the air and his team of Clydesdales shuffled across the gravel driveway of the palace, heading out of the upper bailey.

* * *

><p>Atemu's heart pounded like a tribal drum as he watched the guards haul Seto out from the back of the coach. He clenched his fists at his sides to keep from reaching out to the pirate, the temptation too great. He stood deceptively stoic while Seto was brought up onto the raised platform in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of spectators.<p>

_My, aren't you all excited?_

Atemu felt disgusted that any of these people could, even for a moment, find public execution of any sort, as a form of entertainment. How could they bring along their small children to see such horrid events? Why would they stand in a courtyard for over an hour just to await one man's death, an act that theoretically only took a handful of moments?

Atemu inwardly shook his head in disapproval and confusion. Many people believed that he had been a natural genius, and yet for the life of him, Atemu would never understand such things.

The guards half dragged, half guided Seto onto the platform. Atemu was proud that Seto resisted, fighting the guards even while his arms were bound. _Stubborn man…you never know when to give up. _Atemu thought with affection.

They forced Seto to his knees, and Seto snarled viciously at the degrading position.

_Bear with me a moment longer, Seto. You won't be kneeling for long._

The guards had their hands full keeping Seto to stay still as the town crier loudly proclaimed Seto's numerous crimes to the crowd, some were obviously fabrications, while others downright amazed him.

_He did what with the whom in the where?_

"As is decreed by his Majesty, King Louis, this wretched man has been sentenced to death by beheading. May God have mercy on your soul." The crier finished ritually, even as Atemu was certain he hadn't meant those last few words.

_God may not have mercy on him, but I shall._

Atemu watched as the guards bent Seto over, and Seto turned his cerulean eyes up to glare venomously at the executioner standing to the side of the platform.

King Louis, who stood high upon the balcony on the fourth floor of the fortress, stood from his throne, a smug expression on his face as he stared at Seto's humiliation.

"Proceed!" He called out in a booming voice.

_You won't be laughing long, you asshole._

The executioner raised his ax slowly to acquaintance himself with the weight as it moved back over the executioner's head and behind his shoulders.

Atemu swore his heart would leave a bruise upon his ribcage as the ax blade swung down and found purchase in its target.

* * *

><p>Seto closed his eyes as he heard the air scream as the blade swooped down in a rapid arch toward his head. He heard the tearing of flesh, muscle, and bone, and he heard the sound of agonizing screams, but when Seto opened his eyes and turned his head, the two guards who had been holding him to the chopping block were both on their knees cradling their heavily bleeding forelimbs to their abdomens.<p>

He swung his gaze up toward the executioner, who lay on his back in a crumbled heap on the floor beside him.

A cloaked figure crouched over the executioner's dead body, a short knife lodged deep in the masked man's chest. The cloaked man rose with enviable agility, wrapping his arms and the cloak around Seto as they dropped through the trapdoor on the platform, the bullets being fired from the guards' pistols streaming just over their heads as they were plunged into darkness.


	20. Chapter 19  Revolution

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Warning: This chapter is 95% violence, blood, and gore. **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nineteen – Revolution<strong>

Seto was still having trouble controlling his breathing or his heartbeat after the double-close call he had just gone through. He glanced over at the cloaked figure beside him, who was crouched and motioning for Seto to follow as they moved toward a passageway that was undoubtedly previously not supposed to have been there.

Seto was confused out of his mind, but he obeyed, seeing as the other option was to stay and die.

* * *

><p>The crowd was a continuous roar of commotion as the royal guards rushed through the crowd toward the platform in pursuit of Seto and his escape accomplice. Atemu sought out the White Dragons among the crowd, making sure they were all in position, before he ran for the stage before the guards could reach the trapdoor. Atemu slid toward the executioner to extract his knife and relieved the two dismembered guards' cutlasses.<p>

Concealed beneath the hood of his burgundy cloak, Atemu tripped the snap on the trapdoor to replace the wood to cover the hole. He ignored the two who were slowly bleeding out from having both of their hands sliced off when his knife had made the executioner stumble and the ax maneuver away from its original target. They would die soon enough, and Atemu didn't have the time to waste on the inevitable.

One guard toward the center of the crowd, having been blocked off by a family of six, drew his pistol and aimed it toward Atemu. Jounouchi, who stood to the left of the guard, silently slammed the butt of his stiletto on the guard's temple. The guard fell like a sack of potatoes, and on the way down, Jounouchi punched the blade through the soft flesh of the guard's underarm.

Atemu lunged for the closest guards to reach the bottom of the platform. He rage became completely unbound, and with an animalistic roar, he jumped off of the platform and hurled himself at the first guard. The guard tried to raise his sword to defend, but Atemu knocked the blade aside with one cutlass and slammed into the guard. They both crashed to the ground and Atemu rolled up onto his feet immediately, leaving the other man on the ground wallowing in his own blood from where he had punched through the weak point in the guard's armor.

His attack began a domino effect as the hidden members of the White Dragons. They were careful to leave innocent civilians out of the line of battle, but a couple of vigilante men tried to assist the guards in their fight with the pirates, and they were soon cut down. The pirates had no choice but to silence the interference. Four royal guards evacuated the king to safety within the fortress.

Atemu was grabbed around his shoulders, the grip too weak to have been a soldier. He threw his head back and it connected with a solid blow to whoever was behind him, square in the face. The man's cry of pain was cut off as shards of his ruined nose pierced his brain. His hands still clasping the cloak, the dead man pulled the material off of Atemu's body. It was exceedingly difficult to keep the demon within from slipping its leash.

* * *

><p>Mahado spun and kicked one guard back, and as he stumbled, he brought his halberd down across the back of the man's neck. The dismembered head rolled away from the rest of his body as the guard crumbled to the ground. He turned and worked his way through the crowd toward the area he had last seen Atemu fighting, to find that the front of the platform was already littered with the bodies of soldiers and vigilantes alike.<p>

He watched as Atemu grabbed hold of one guard's hand, locked the man's wrist, and slammed the heel of his free hand first onto the outside of the man's elbow and then swiftly he jerked the man's broken arm around until Atemu was behind the guard. The motion had unbuckled the man's breastplate, and immediately Atemu thrust his dirk into the man's back. Atemu let him go and the man dropped, and before the first guard's body could even touch the ground, Atemu had whirled and had slit the throat of another guard and threw the dirk at a third guard, which stuck right between his eyes, when that second guard had just barely taken aim to shoot Atemu.

Mahado stopped, stunned by the blood crazed look in Atemu's eyes. Even with the distance between the two cousins, Mahado could see Atemu's usual burning scarlet eyes had darkened to the purest crimson. His heart leapt in response, a peculiar emotion filling up inside his heart. He was concerned for Atemu's sanity, and yet some foreign part of him was fascinated by the lethal grace and breathless beauty in Atemu's death dance.

Mahado saw that the guards were gathering around Atemu, too many for the boy to take on by himself, the older man rushed forward to lend his younger, bloodthirsty cousin assistance.

* * *

><p>Seto followed the cloaked man along the makeshift tunnel out of the courtyard of the fortress, still trying to comprehend what had happened.<p>

Once they were far enough away from the pit that had been dug beneath the platform, the man lowered his hood to reveal Malik underneath, "Jeez captain. Only you could get yourself in this sort of a bind when you go on such a simple errand." The sandy-blond man grumbled indignantly.

"What are you doing here? What happened back there?" Seto demanded.

Malik grinned mischievously, "That kid is one of the most reckless, bravest bastards I've ever met in my life." Malik replied in answer.

"Santiago?"

"Who else?"

Seto whirled around to look in the direction they had come. _Atemu…you fool! _

Malik heard the rapid footsteps of Seto rushing in the opposite direction, "Hey, captain, you're going the wrong way. Gah!" Malik grumbled as he raced after the captain.

Seto's heart pounded violently, panic flooding him as he returned to the pit.

He found that the trapdoor had been replaced somehow, blocking his way back to the surface.

"Damn it, Atemu!" He shouted as he stared at the offending wood that separated Seto from Atemu and a thousand guards.

"Don't worry, Captain. The rest of the crew is up there, and-"

Seto turned on Malik, "Get me out of this hole right fucking now." He hissed menacingly.

"The exit would be in _that_," Malik gestured toward the tunnel, "direction."

Seto growled, but decided that the faster he got out of this hole, the quicker he could make it back to Atemu.

Once again, he left Malik behind as he raced back through the tunnel.

"God, I'm going to get dizzy from all this indecision." Malik mumbled as he started after Seto.

* * *

><p>Atemu was cornered, but he fought back like a wild beast caught in a trap. He had been brought down to only his dirk and one cutlass, but that was enough.<p>

_I've got to get through them to get to _him_._

He lunged for the nearest soldier, but he brought his sword up to block, and he shoved the boy up against the side of the platform. He cried out in pain as the motion jostled his injured shoulder. The rage grew larger, more frigid, and suddenly Atemu's world went black as his demon took complete control of the boy's consciousness. Only one thought was going through his head now.

_Louis. Must. Die!_

* * *

><p>"What the hell?" One guard gasped in shock as the young boy's crimson eyes were plunged into pure obsidian, as dark as midnight and as cold as the Atlantic Ocean in the winter season. The boy's mouth opened in a soundless snarl, and suddenly he lunged. The boy went for the guard on the left first, moving with unnatural speed as his foot connected soundly in the man's midsection.<p>

The guard doubled over with a groan, and the boy sank the blade of his dirk deep into the man's neck, and jerked until he snapped the man's spinal cord.

He left the dead guard fall as the boy rushed for the guard on the far right. The man raised his pistol and fired, the bullet skimmed the side of the boy's face, but instead of a hiss in pain, he growled venomously.

* * *

><p>Mahado slammed into the back of one of the guards who had Atemu backed up against the side of the platform, and slammed the butt of a stolen pistol against the man's temple hard enough to puncture the skull. He got back onto his feet to go after a second, dropping to the ground and swept the second guard's feet out from under his body. The guard fell with a metallic thud, and he rocked like an upturned tortoise before Mahado kicked out and the guard's head snapped to the side, and severed the spine.<p>

Once again up on his feet, Mahado continued on toward his cousin.

Two guards blocked his path, and he rammed full speed into one, bracing for impact and it sent the guard reeling. While he tried to keep his balance, Mahado fired the pistol and the bullet punched through the second guard's skull at the back. He then turned the pistol on the wobbly man and he fired a second time, the bullet lodged deep in his right eye.

* * *

><p>Seto spotted the growing light at the end of the long tunnel and he forced a new burst of speed through his legs as it carried him closer to the end. He burst from the tunnel and doubled back toward the looming fortress a quarter-mile to the south.<p>

Malik popped his head out of the hole and whistled for the captain's attention, "Hey, do you honestly think Atemu hadn't thought of everything?"

Seto cocked an eyebrow as Malik whistled again, two short, shrill trills that proceeded the thundering of approaching hooves. He grinned at the sight of the ginger mare and bay gelding Atemu had bought rushing to answer Malik's summons. Immediately he mounted the mare and coaxed the horse into a full run.

* * *

><p>Louis felt as though something had been lodged in his throat as his four personal guards led the king through the winding corridors in the fortress. This wasn't how things were supposed to have happened. He was outraged that he didn't have the chance to see that bastard Leandro's death, to relish in the sound of his final groan of pain before it was painfully cut off by death.<p>

Oh well, there will be other times. All this commotion caused was momentary diversion.

As they continued down the hall, the sudden anguished cry of pain to his right had him turning his head just in time to see one of his four guards fall, a knife protruding from his side.

A short, young, raven-haired boy with steel-gray eyes and a youthful face and severe expression stood behind the fallen guard. A moment later, before any of them could recover from the initial shock of the ambush, the boy raised his pistol and shot off three rounds, each one dropping the remaining guards, leaving Louis alone with the boy.

"Who the hell are you?" Louis demanded, outraged at the slight trembling in his voice.

"Aw, you don't remember me, Louis? Ah well, it has been eight years since your bastard father conned his way to the throne." The boy mocked as he leveled the gun toward Louis' head.

The king squinted a moment before his eyes widened, "Mokuba?"

"Correct." The boy confirmed with a cheerful grin before his expression dropped and he coldcocked the prince with a swipe of his hand.

The young pirate watched the teenaged king collapse with an expression of disgust on his face. He then turned toward his left and behind him to where Ryuji, Ryou, and Tristan stood.

"Take this filth to the tower."


	21. Chapter 20 Darkness

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Warning: Violence and blood continue, but not as much. Also undercurrents of YAOI sprinkled throughout the chapter.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twenty – Darkness<strong>

Seto leapt off of the back of his horse even before the mare had come to a complete stop. He hit the ground running as he rushed toward the gate leading to the inner courtyard of the fortress, his heart hammering on in his chest so fast that he half expected it would jump clear out of his torso. He saw the civilians running for safety, he spotted several of his men scattered throughout the crowd fighting against guards and do-gooders, he even saw Mahado in the rear of the commotion near the platform battling it out against a quad of soldiers who tried to corner him. Even so, he couldn't see any sign of Atemu.

He irritably brushed one man aside as he continued to scan the courtyard for the boy, but the man came back for round two, and Seto slammed his fist into the man's face. The man reeled backward and collapsed to the ground. Just as Seto glanced up from the downed man, he saw a flash of movement he hadn't noticed before on the left side of the platform.

He watched as Atemu spun and landed a roundhouse to the side of one soldier's head and continued his spin to strike a second guard's midsection in a mid-roundhouse. The second man doubled over, clutching at his suddenly bleeding side, and Seto realized the momentum from the double-spin had been enough to break through the weak point in the armor Atemu had told Seto about.

Something was off though, and Seto couldn't pinpoint exactly what the problem was. All he knew was that seeing Atemu move a little too quickly, how quick he was to finish the kill…it left the pirate cold inside.

Atemu was cutting through the soldiers like a battering ram, and he left no survivors in his wake.

Seto started threading his way through the crowd as fast as he could, pulling the sword from one preoccupied soldier's belt and continued on. He quickly lobbed off the head of one man who had foolishly gotten in Seto's path to Atemu, and without a moment's hesitation, Seto ran toward Atemu.

* * *

><p>Atemu steadily worked his way around the outside of the crowd, heading straight for the fortress.<p>

Right about now, Mokuba and the others should have already taken Louis into custody, and Atemu had some unfinished business with the prince-turned-king.

* * *

><p>"You can't do this. Do you know who I am?" Louis demanded indignantly as he grasped the bars of his new prison. Ryou and Tristan ignored the king's irate ranting, but Mokuba and Ryuji both found the teenaged noble's statements quite entertaining.<p>

"We know exactly who you are, your _majesty_," Ryuji replied, that one word dripping with his own, special malice. "We just don't give a damn."

"How dare you?" Louis spat.

"Aww, did I hurt the little king's feelings?" The raven-haired, emerald-eyed man quipped to Louis' extreme distaste.

"Enough talk, Ryuji." Mokuba commented as he turned his steel-gray eyes to glare at Louis, "The White Dragons have far too much dignity to waste our time talking to the likes of _him._" The teenaged first mate retorted with a frigid bite in his words.

"You just wait until my father finds out about this. You'll ALL BE SORRY!" Louis vowed.

Mokuba couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous threat.

* * *

><p>Seto changed position as he saw Atemu steadily moving toward the fortress, and he moved to meet up with the boy. It was irritating how many obstacles kept getting in the way of him and the boy. One would think that when all-out war erupts in a cramped courtyard, the civilians would have enough sense to vacate the premises. Of course, these people weren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, and although some had enough sense to make a break for the gate, many were floundering about, too skittish to go anywhere near any of the pirates who so maliciously fought against the king's guards while others simply kept getting caught in the crossfires and were suddenly so nervous that they refused to move a single step after the first five times they had been jostled about or were almost cut down by a warring weapon.<p>

Gunfire rang out through the courtyard, steel clashing against steel, grunts of pain, cries of agony, and the screams of women and small children who couldn't find their way out of this mess kept pulling Seto's attention from Atemu's movements.

He was curious as to what the young man had planned, seeing as how meticulous the boy had been in developing this rescue and leading the charge against the king and his soldiers, but Seto seriously didn't like to see the boy's glorious scarlet eyes had darkened to the deepest obsidian.

Three guards cut off Atemu path while a fourth soldier came up behind the boy. Seto's throat closed around a phantom lump that had somehow gotten lodged in his esophagus as he thought the boy might be cut down. Seto could tell that the boy was slowing, but even so, the boy fought.

He feigned right and slipped out of the way as the four guards came at him. He grabbed one soldier's arm, locked the man's wrist, and then swung the man into the other three before he continued without finishing the four men. Seto narrowed his eyes at the contradiction, but just as he broke free from the crowd, he watched as Atemu burst into a run and disappeared inside of the fortress walls.

* * *

><p>Atemu rushed to the area of the south wing of the fortress where Mokuba was to have taken Louis after they restrained the teenaged king, and it wasn't long before he finally burst through the door that led down a flight of stairs to the dungeons.<p>

* * *

><p>Mokuba turned his head toward the sound of approaching footsteps. His hand inched toward the pistol that was holstered at his hip but he didn't draw, figuring it might very well have been Atemu. The door to their section of the dungeon opened and the boy walked out of the darkened archway toward the four White Dragons.<p>

"Glad to see you in one piece." Atemu commented to the teenaged first mate as Mokuba moved to meet the boy. Mokuba handed Atemu a small key ring with five brass keys.

"You as well. Has anyone been injured?" Mokuba questioned.

"Not that I could tell. We'll have to take a closer look after the battle is over, but I did make a sweep of the courtyard before I came inside, and everyone seemed to be accounted for. Including Seto."

"My brother really came back?"

"Apparently he's a glutton for punishment." Atemu commented with a hint of affection in his tone, and it caught the younger teen's attention immediately but he didn't comment.

Atemu brushed past Mokuba and sauntered over to the cell where Ryou, Tristan, and Ryuji kept Louis contained.

The boy king's eyes widened and his face paled as if he'd seen a ghost, or, more appropriately, a demon in human disguise.

"You…" Louis gasped quietly.

"What's the matter, Louis? Didn't you want to see me again? Wasn't that the reason you kidnapped my little brother, to draw me out of hiding?" Atemu mocked venomously, his dark eyes spitting daggers of loathing at the king. "I must say, if I hadn't hated you before, you have surely earned my eternal enmity with that foolish move."

It was almost comical how violently the faux-confident boy king trembled under the frigid scrutiny of Atemu. Mokuba half expected Louis to lose control of his bladder at any moment.

Atemu flicked his gaze over toward Ryou, "Is everything prepared?" He asked silkily.

"Yes." The English pirate commented solemnly.

"Good." Atemu stepped up to the cell door and unlocked the door. The four pirates watched the king shrink away from Atemu as he slipped inside and started for the boy king.

"N-n-n-no, y-you s-stay b-back." The king stammered pathetically.

Atemu tilted his head up three degrees in a haughty motion that caused Louis to freeze as pure terror rendered the boy king motionless.

Atemu reached out and grabbed the collar of Louis' glamorous tunic and hauled the quivering mess to his feet before he half pulled, half dragged the boy king out of the cell and down the hall to a second room. Atemu held one hand firmly over his mouth and pinched his nose and motioned for the others to stay back as he unlocked opened the door and tossed the prince-turned-king inside.

There was a large, four-poster mahogany bed with luxurious burgundy blankets and plush, goose feather pillows. There was a single mahogany nightstand, a small, rectangular table, a stuffed, leather chair, and a wardrobe.

"Your majesty, you must be exhausted. So I'll leave you here for now so that you can rest for a while. I'll come back for you once I've finished with your guards." Atemu crooned malevolently.

Mokuba watched in confused fascination as Atemu closed the door and locked it from the outside.

"What is so special about that room?" Tristan asked.

Atemu didn't reply right away. He didn't turn around to face them, he simply stared at the oak door in front of him as if it had become the most difficult puzzle the boy had ever encountered.

Finally, he said, "It's infected." And then he turned away and started back down the path toward the door.

"Infected?" Ryuji inquired, not understanding.

"That room had been a quarantine area for person's inflicted with smallpox."

That was all the answer the others needed.

Mokuba, Ryou, Ryuji, and Tristan all exchanged uneasy glances at each other before Mokuba nodded approvingly, "Let the bastard suffer."

Wordlessly, Atemu slipped out of the room and left the quad of pirates in the prison block.

Although he talked tough, Mokuba grew nervous. How could Atemu so nonchalantly explain to them, as if he had been commenting about something so inconsequential, such as the weather, that he had quite literally enforced smallpox on another man? Sure, Louis was a bastard and deserved to die…but wasn't this going a bit far?

* * *

><p>Seto stalked through the corridors of the fortress trying to find where Atemu had gone.<p>

"Atemu." He called out, his voice echoing grandly from the acoustics of the building.

To Seto's right, he caught a glimpse of movement.

"Santiago?"

"Yes." Atemu replied, although his voice sounded cold, vacant of emotion.

The boy strode out into the torchlight, and Seto noticed that Atemu looked a bit weary.

Seto strode across the space between the two men in three long strides before he grabbed hold of the boy's shoulders, yanked him forward, "You're a fool." he murmured.

Their lips met in a fierce, desperate kiss.


	22. Chapter 21 Decision

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer.**

**Warning: Undercurrents of YAOI and mentions of death by smallpox.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twenty-One – Decision<strong>

Atemu didn't care anymore. He had seen the odd look on his cousin's face out in the courtyard, where Mahado had been carefully watching Atemu as though he had been a science experiment that had gone horribly, tragically wrong and Mahado had been trying to understand where he had gone wrong. He had felt the uneasy tension in the room between Mokuba and the others when Atemu had thrown Louis to his slow, agonizing death. Even Yugi had looked at him strangely.

For a while, Atemu had begun to wonder if he had done something, or had he changed somehow? He was no fool; he had noticed the gripping darkness that lay just beneath his skin…could that have been what Mahado, Yugi, Mokuba, and the others sensed and that was why they had acted so strangely around him?

But now…? Now he couldn't give a damn what anyone else thought. Atemu was firmly locked in Seto's arms while the captain ravaged like a starving man. There was an underlying affection that Seto gave off, and Atemu couldn't get enough.

_As long as I have you…_

* * *

><p>Seto pulled away only far enough to take in a few gulps of air. He rested his forehead against Atemu's and drank in the sight of Atemu's eyes. Beneath the torchlight, they were still dark, but even so he knew that they were steadily returning to their original scarlet color.<p>

One hand skimmed up the boy's back and buried into Atemu's thick hair, clasped the strands in his fist to ground him in the moment.

There had been far too many close calls, too much distance between them, way too many dangers they had faced trying to get back to the other. And here they were, Atemu, panting from exertion and from their earlier extended kiss, smelling of raw, earthy pine, sweat, and that tantalizing twinge of cinnamon and citrus. Broad shoulders, sculpted features. Seto traced his thumb over the burn scar from a bullet that had gotten far too close to Atemu's face. It was deep and red and angry, and when he touched the tread, Atemu's eyes flinched closed in pain for a millisecond before he opened them again to look Seto in the eyes.

It was so surreal. The last few days seemed like an eternity without Atemu there, and now he had him. And by God, Seto would not let him go again.

"Where's Louis? Phillip?" Seto wondered vaguely.

"Phillip never showed. Apparently his mental health is declining and he couldn't leave his suite. Louis is back in the prison block, locked inside the smallpox quarantine quarters. Mokuba, Ryou, Ryuji, and Tristan are back there too. They should be on their way soon."

"Smallpox, huh?" Seto mused.

* * *

><p>Mahado panted heavily as he doubled over, clasping his hands to his knees.<p>

_It's over…_

Finally, after two grueling hours of seemingly endless battle, Mahado and the members of the White Dragon pirate crew had finally dwindled the Royal guards down to a measly lot f quivering cowards. The courtyard was littered from the numerous bodies of the dead soldiers and men who had tried to help retrain the pirates.

He looked around after a moment, when he finally caught his breath, and was shocked to discover Yamir wasn't there.

"Yami?" He called out.

A couple of the White Dragons picked their way through the bodies, trying to make sure none of their kindred pirates had fallen in battle. Thankfully none had been lethally wounded, although most were heavily wounded from the battle.

And yet, still there was no sign of Atemu to be found.

"Yami!" Mahado called out, worry making his voice sound a bit shrill.

"He's probably inside the fortress." One of the pirates, the blond man named Jounouchi, commented when he finally understood who Mahado was looking for.

Mahado had just started for the door to the fortress when it opened, and both Yamir and Seto came out, followed closely by four other pirates.

* * *

><p>"Is anyone severely injured?" Seto inquired as he scanned the courtyard filled with dead soldiers and his White Dragons. "Any casualties?"<p>

There was a chorus of replies that they were all relatively all right, considering that sixty-eight pirates had just gone to war against however many Royal Guards Louis had brought along with him.

Seto looked over to the platform that had been built solely for the purpose of Seto's death. It seemed so long ago that he had been so helpless and staring death in the face.

Atemu strode down the steps toward Mahado and his eyes traveled down the older man's body from head to toe, searching for injury.

Mahado must've understood what he had been wanting, because the man smiled warmly at him and shook his head, "I'm unharmed, for the most part." He had a few gashes and bruises, and a bullet had clipped Mahado in the side, but hadn't pierced the skin. Other than that, there wasn't anything more threatening.

"Good." Atemu commented with a small smile of his own.

"And you?"

Atemu spread his arms and held them out away from his body to show that Atemu had sustained several injuries during the battle.

The boy was almost completely covered in blood. Some of it was his, while most was the blood that he had drawn from his enemies. There were deep wounds that lined the length of both his arms; there was a pooling of blood in Atemu's hip that the boy had noticed before. His black trousers hid well the blood that was no doubt also coating his legs.

"I'm in dire need of a good bath." Atemu commented evenly with a grin.

* * *

><p>Mahado convinced Atemu to return to his father's cottage for a visit, and Seto decided to come along, if only to meet the man who was Atemu's father.<p>

The cottage was a modest, one-story home made from sturdy oak. The house was surrounded on all sides by fields of lush green lawn, multi-colored specks of flowers dotted the courtyard on both ends of the cottage. There was a small intersecting section of the house that was separate from the living space of the family. There were a few horse stables and a decent-sized corral, and that seemed to be the extent of the Rodriguez household.

Seto spotted a flurry of motion off to one side of the house, and he could see the distant form of little Yugi romping with what looked to be a chocolate colored dog. Even from that distance, he swore he could hear the boy's joyful laughter as he played with the animal, and it wasn't long before he realized Atemu had also picked up on the scene.

They watched as the dog seemed to sense their presence. It barked at them, but it didn't seem threatening, as was testament to the dog's wagging tail and lulling tongue.

They saw the boy spin toward them and started sprinting across the space between them.

"Yami!" Yugi shouted exuberantly, and Seto saw that Atemu was braced for impact.

It was fortunate for him, because even though Yugi seemed to have tried to stop before he barreled into his brother, his feet weren't cooperating and he ended up being propelled toward Atemu. Atemu's arms wrapped around Yugi's waist and he scrambled back a couple of steps to keep his balance. Seto saw Atemu bite his bottom lip to keep from crying out at the pain that motion most likely had caused to Atemu's leg.

It just so happened that sometime during the battle, unbeknownst to himself, Atemu had been stabbed with a knife in his hip. It had been too deep, the blade roughly as long as Atemu's signature dirk, but now, when the adrenaline from the battle was gone, Seto could see the boy limping quite prominently.

"Hey, little one. I missed you too." Atemu told his brother.

"I was so scared, Yami. You just rushed off without a word, and Mahado looked really worried all of a sudden, and then…I was just so scared." Yugi rushed.

"Shh, it's all right now. I'm fine." Atemu replied soothingly as he stroked his brother's head affectionately.

Yugi sniffed and finally he nodded, his face still buried in Atemu's midsection.

* * *

><p>Seto knew he shouldn't have been, but for some unknown reason, he felt incredibly intimidated by Atemu's father.<p>

Akunumkanon was a large man, tall and muscular with large bones and imposing aura that immediately set Seto on edge. The man had short but thick salt-and-pepper hair and well trimmed beard, he had Yugi's amethyst eyes, Atemu's golden-copper skin, and although he was decidedly older than any of them, Seto had a feeling that Akunumkanon could be quite strong in battle should he be needed.

The reunion between father and son had been a heart wrenching experience.

Yugi, Mahado, Atemu, and Seto all had come in through the front door of the house, and Yugi called out for his father. The man had emerged from one of the back rooms of the house and had come to an abrupt stop upon seeing Atemu.

"Yami." The man breathed the name as if it was a sacred prayer, and hesitantly he had stepped closer, but not by much.

Atemu simply smiled warmly at the older man and he'd strode across the remaining space between him and his father.

He reached out, clasped Akunumkanon's hand, and pulled the older man into his arms.

Seto had seen the sheen of moisture in the older man's amethyst eyes at his son's touch, knowing that he wasn't imaging things. The older man returned the embrace immediately and the two held on to each other for a moment before Akunumkanon stepped back a little to look down at Atemu.

They were measuring each other, studying the other's faces. Akunumkanon was looking for any accusation or bitterness in his son's eyes, but all he got was a look of pure love and affection, one that made Seto was begrudgingly jealous of the older man.

He wanted Atemu to look at him that way.

_Well…sort of. _

Father and son finally got over the initial shock of seeing each other again.

"I'm sorry, Yami. I-"

"Don't, father. It wasn't your fault." Atemu had replied, and Akunumkanon had looked as though he had just been given a cauldron full of gold.

As the night went on, Atemu had introduced Seto to his brother and father. Yugi had greeted him without a second thought, remembering that Seto had helped Yugi escape from Louis the night before. Akunumkanon was a little more suspicious, but once Mahado and Atemu began to helped the older man's initial skepticism, Akunumkanon had welcomed Seto happily.

The whole situation felt strange and yet welcome, but something made Seto feel quite melancholy.

Atemu could stay. Louis was no longer a threat to him now. He doesn't have to run away from Spain. He could stay with his father and brother and continue on living as he had before Atemu had been dragged into Louis' mess.

That thought made Seto feel incredibly empty inside, made his chest feel suddenly hollow.

_No, he could stay, but he won't._

Yeah, Seto would like to believe that, but still…

* * *

><p>Seto climbed the rope ladder up onto the deck of the Tide Whisperer an hour after dusk. He was so relieved to be back on his beloved ship, and yet he couldn't enjoy the feeling of home for long.<p>

Atemu had stayed behind at his family's cottage.

Seto strode across the deck toward the crew living quarters and went straight to his cabin. He was exhausted, and he decided that he'd sleep for a while and then they'd castoff when he awoke…whether Atemu was on board or not.

* * *

><p>Atemu walked out onto the porch of his father's cottage and he looked out at the landscape, looking, but not really seeing anything. It had become rather dark and outside the ring of light coming from the lanterns hung out on the porch, there wasn't much else to be seen.<p>

He remembered Seto's talk about perhaps staying here. He ought to stay; this was his home after all.

And yet, it wasn't any longer.

He only spent one month out on the Tide Whisperer. One month to get to know the White Dragon crew and he even made several friends among the pirates. He couldn't see himself going back to his old life, living in this house and working as an underpaid blacksmith for no real reason. Atemu never had an interest in blacksmithing, he had simply known it was necessary for him to learn.

Now, with everything out of the way; Louis was going to die slowly and painful from smallpox. It doesn't matter how long it takes for someone to find him, Louis would still be infected, and it was just a matter of time now. Phillip was becoming senile, and posed no real threat without Louis' influence. His brother was almost twelve and he'd start in on his apprenticeship soon enough, his father was now at ease knowing that Atemu was alive.

He had no ties to this place anymore. His family…his home was on that ship. Seto was on that ship.

Making up his mind, Atemu stood and walked back into the cottage to say his goodbyes.


	23. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer. **

**Warning: This chapter is 95% LEMON! Don't like, don't read. **

**A/N OMG! I can't believe I'm finished…that was really fast! 21 days, and I pulled Valiant Heart out. Anyway, I hope you all liked it. There is a sequel in the works, but I'm in the process of pre-writing, so it may take a while for me to get started. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought. Here's a little treat for you guys. ^_~**

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

He was dreaming…he had to be. _Oh, sweet Lord, please don't let me wake up!_

Seto opened his eyes to look up into the face of a scarlet-eyed angel.

"Atemu…" He murmured drowsily, one hand slowly reaching up to cup the boy's cheek. His thumb instinctually stroked the burn scar across Atemu's cheek, reminded of what Atemu had done for him.

A slowly, sensuous smile graced Atemu's sharp features and he turned his head into Seto's palm to press a tender kiss there before he nipped at the pad of Seto's thumb playfully before he used his tongue to pull the digit into his mouth.

Seto shivered as he felt Atemu's hot, wet mouth clamp over his thumb and even though his mind was still half-sleep, his body stirred to life at that simple ministration. Atemu sucked hard on the digit before he pulled away, his mouth making a sharp pop before his hand came up to cradle Seto's hand in his, and slowly Atemu began to lick, nip, and tease the tender flesh of Seto's wrist, working his way slowly down the length of his arm toward Seto's shoulder. By the time he reached the crook of Seto's elbow, the pirate was finally fully awake, and he realized that this was real.

When Atemu bit down hard on the juncture of Seto's neck and shoulder, Seto groaned and arched his back, silently asking for more of the same.

Seto could feel Atemu's lips slide across his skin in a mischievous grin as he continued up Seto's throat, creating a warm, wet trail up the side of his neck, nipping at the soft flesh under Seto's chin, and finally his tongue circled over the pirate's earlobe.

"Mmm…" Seto mumbled as he turned his head to give Atemu better access, and Atemu took the motion and the quiet moan as encouragements. He traced the curve of Seto's ear with the tip of his tongue, delighting in the delicious sounds the pirate made. There were advantages to having the pirate in such a lethargic state of waking; Seto was surprisingly honest in this state.

Atemu placed soft, tender kisses along Seto's cheeks, his forehead, along the bridge of his nose, and finally he placed his lips over Seto's in a soft, sensuous kiss, dragging his lips across the pirate's. He sucked on Seto's bottom lip and pulled gently to get Seto to open for him. The pirate obeyed, and Atemu swiftly swept inside. He slowly explored Seto's mouth, learning every sleek line and slight bump, memorizing Seto's unique flavor. It was like ambrosia to him, and Atemu couldn't get enough.

Seto slowly brushed he tongue against Atemu's, and the electricity in that simple touch lurched Seto into a full state of awareness. He dove into the kiss with sudden enthusiasm that surprised a gasp from the younger man.

Atemu suddenly found himself on his back, one of Seto's hands buried in Atemu's thick hair while the other slowly trailed over Atemu's body.

He started with Atemu's throat, skimming his fingertips and gently pressing his nails into the skin just enough to make the boy beneath Seto shiver. He then went slightly lower, and he began undoing the buttons on Atemu's tunic. One-by-one, the tunic exposed a few more luscious inches of heated caramel flesh. Atemu's skin was smoldering, the boy's breath coming in slight pants as the boy's arms encircled Seto's neck, one hand burying in the pirate's hair while the other trailed down Seto's back, following every line and curve. He burrowed his hand beneath the collar of Seto's tunic, just to satisfy the need to touch him.

Seto pulled back from the kiss to look into Atemu's face.

The boy's hot breaths brushed against Seto's face, and his usual scarlet eyes had dimmed to crimson in his passion. Seto shivered in anticipation, and he slowly extracted the boy's right arm from the tunic, followed by the left. The boy's bandages had been removed, the knife wound had been stitched while he had his new wounds checked.

Seto's fingers traced every new mark that Atemu had borne in his quest to rescue him, and he leaned forward to place a kiss to each one, starting with the burn scar on Atemu's face, to the cut across Atemu's clavicle, and all the way down to Atemu's waistband.

By the time Seto reached the stitches at Atemu's hip, the boy was writhing beneath Seto's tender assault.

Seto reached for Atemu's belt and the top button on Atemu's trousers. Slowly, inch by tantalizing inch, Seto pulled the boy's trousers down Atemu's hips, over his thighs, down his calves, and discarded them onto the floor. Seto raised up onto his knees to drink in the sight of Atemu. Lying completely bare. One Seto's bed.

It was almost too much for him to take.

"We rushed the last couple of times…" Seto murmured as he crawled back up Atemu's body to give Atemu a kiss. He pulled away only a inch, his breath tickling Atemu's lips as he whispered, "But this time…I plan to devour you. Slowly…and completely."

Seto could feel the boy tremble at Seto's declarations.

Seto slowly worked his way down Atemu's neck, nipping, licking, and teasing every inch of flesh, searching for those sweet spots that would make Atemu's go wild.

While his mouth was busy searching, Seto's right hand trailed to Atemu's chest. His fingertips brushed against the tight peak of Atemu's nipple, and Atemu arched immediately into the feather-light touch. Seto pinched the nipple between his index finger and his thumb, rolling the nub between the two digits before pressing the bud down with the pad of his index finger. Atemu's hands grasped tighter in Seto's hair and his nails dug slightly into his back. He pressed his face into the crook of Seto's neck, and right in Seto's ear, Atemu began to quietly moan and gasp, his rapid breaths, all were testament to how aroused Atemu was becoming.

Seto's mouth finished searching Atemu's neck. He did know that there was one sweet spot, a small spot about a shekel-size right behind Atemu's right ear, but he'd save that for later.

He dipped his head down slowly, trailing kisses along the way as he replaced his fingers with his mouth. Atemu's hand shot up to cover his mouth as he tried to suppress a moan at the feeling of Seto's tongue gently yet thorough laving at the boy's taut nipple. His left hand went to Atemu's other nipple to give it the same roll, pinch, press treatment. Soon, Seto pulled back from that nipple to focus his attention on the other.

Atemu's back came up off of the bed as he tried to get as much of that delicious heat as he could.

Seto could feel Atemu's rigid hardness against his hip, and Seto grinned against Atemu's skin as his free hand journeyed lower, his fingertips skimming over Atemu's taut abdomen, flitted across the V of Atemu's hips, and ever so slowly he inched toward Atemu's pride.

Seto bit down rough on Atemu's nipple and pinched the other as his right hand encircled Atemu's manhood. The boy's mouth opened in a soundless shout of pleasure as his hips bucked against Seto's hand and his upper body jerked, bowed, and rolled, trying to figure if he liked the rough treatment or not.

As Atemu's body continued on in turmoil, Seto's hand slowly, firmly pumped up and down on Atemu's pride as he slowly lowered himself even further down Atemu's body.

"What are you AH-!" Atemu half gasped, half moaned as Seto took his manhood into his mouth. The pirate's masterful tongue swirled around the head of Atemu's cock and he sucked in firm, strong pulls.

"Oh God, Seto. AH yes!" Atemu praised in a low purring tone.

He felt smoldering heat collecting between his legs. Sure, Seto had had quite a few rounds with Atemu, but the pirate had never done something like this. And, _oh! _It felt good.

"Ah, Seto…stop…I'm going to…"

Seto plunged his mouth down until he was practically swallowing Atemu whole. Atemu's mouth opened in a soundless scream as he released his seed into Seto mouth. Seto drank deep, amazed at how sweet Atemu tasted. It was likened to a tangerine, both sweet and sour, and can become very addicting.

Laying boneless on the bed, Atemu looked up at Seto with half-lidded eyes. He crooked a finger at Seto, "Come closer." He said in a near growl. "My turn."

Seto shivered at the lust he heard in the boy's deep voice.

Atemu rolled Seto over until he had the pirate on his back. He began to duplicate Seto's previous motions, licking, nipping, biting, pinching, caressing. He had learned that Seto had extremely sensitive skin on his legs.

Atemu unbutton Seto's trousers and slid Seto's tunic up over the pirate's head until he too was naked.

Atemu's hands skimmed down Seto's broad shoulders, massaging the muscles of Seto's pectorals. He glided down Seto's tapered waist, his tongue tracing Seto's abdominals, down to suckle on one of Seto's hipbones. The pirate grunted and his hand buried in Atemu's hair before he moved to cup the boy's face. When Atemu lifted his mouth away, there was already a dark mark forming over the area, and it raised every bit of possessiveness within Atemu to the surface.

_Mine._

Atemu's hands moved down to Seto's erection, one hand wrapped around the shaft while the other gently rolled his sac in his palm. Seto moaned low and primal, his hips pumped forward. Atemu smirked and then he lowered his head. His tongue darted out to flick across the head of Seto's cock, like a kitten drinking cream, before he took the engorged member into his mouth. He rocked back and forth in a slow, firm rhythm that Seto was quick to follow. Atemu pulled away before he rubbed the saliva all down Seto's shaft, wetting it completely.

Atemu crawled up Seto's body to straddle the man's hips.

The irony of the moment, how this was the exact position they had been in on the night they met, wasn't lost on either man.

Seto reached up toward Atemu's face, and Atemu grabbed the man's hand and he sucked in Seto's index, middle, and ring fingers, sucking on them and wetting them until Seto was certain it would be enough for him to prepare Atemu properly.

He tried to be quick, but Atemu could still feel the same deep-seated pain that had assailed him the first time Seto and Atemu had sex.

Thankfully, however, it hadn't taken too long for Seto to find Atemu's sweet spot deep inside his body, and when Atemu jumped and cried out in pleasure, Seto continued to prod that spot until Atemu was literally begging to be filled.

Seto removed his fingers, and Atemu positioned himself over Seto's cock. Slowly, inch by excruciating inch, Atemu lowered himself down onto Seto's cock until it was fully embedded inside Atemu's body.

Seto's breath hissed out between clenched teeth, and he remained as still as possible, waiting for Atemu to adjust to the girth of him, even though his body was screaming at him to ram into Atemu as hard and fast as he could until they were well sated.

Finally, Atemu began to move. Slowly at first, he made Seto pull nearly all the way out until only the head was still inside, and then he threw himself back down on Seto's cock in a quick movement that had them groan in unison. Atemu continued on just like that, gradually increasing the tempo, growing faster and pumping harder until Atemu's hips were moving at a pace that probably shouldn't be normal, and Seto had no complaints.

Seto pumped deep into Atemu with every downward thrust, the boy on top of him coming undone as Seto found his sweet spot and continued to hit it over and over again.

"Ah…ah yeah Seto. Right there. AH! God, you feel so good." Atemu growled, and Seto's body reacted by plundering Atemu's body.

"Mmm! Harder…faster…ah yeah, that's so _good_!"

Seto suddenly flipped them over so that he was on top. He set a furious pace that had Atemu's head rolling back and forth on the pillows and ecstasy flooded him.

"God, Atemu…you're so tight. So hot." Seto allowed between groans and labored breaths.

Atemu's hands clenched in the sheets so tightly that they might've ripped a bit, but neither minded as both began to reach their peaks.

Seto dragged them up until Seto was on his knees and Atemu was kneeling across his thighs. Seto thrust deep and hard into Atemu and Atemu held on to Seto for dear life.

He buried his face in the crook of Seto's neck as he shouted when his orgasm tore through him.

Seto growled as Atemu's body tightened around his cock, pushing him to orgasm with the boy.

Still connected, still hold on to each other, the two fell back down onto the bed, their breathing coming in short, rapid pants that tore from their laboring lungs.

"That…was incredible." Atemu murmured into Seto's chest.

"Mm-hmm." Seto replied.

* * *

><p>Seto watched Atemu's face as the boy slept soundly beside him.<p>

It was almost too good to be true. Was this actually real? Was Atemu really asleep in his arms, or had he imagined it?

Seto looked out through the small manhole in the wall and saw the rapidly lightening sky outside.

He didn't care. If this were a dream, then Seto would hope to never fully awaken again, but something about Atemu, here, now, solid and in his arms, told Seto that this was real.

Which meant that Atemu had chosen to stay with him…

Seto settled down beside his slumbering lover, kissed the boy on the top of his head, and closed his eyes before surrendering to sleep himself.

_Atemu will still be here when you wake up…_


End file.
